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Missionary Journal

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PRESBYTERIAN MISSION PRESS.

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

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Facing p. 53

Frontispiece to March

Dr. Christie, Native Assistants, and some \

Convalescent Wounded, in the Mouk- y

den Hospital )

The Shantung Union College, Weihsien ... Frontispiece to February number.

An Ancient Portrait of Lao Tzu Facing p. 67.

Board of Trustees of the Chinese Tract

Society

F.F.M.A. New Boys' High School, Chungking.Facing p 151.

Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall Frontispiece to April

Instrument Making at Hsu Ting Fu ... Facing p. 202.

Pagoda at the Summer Palace, Peking, and ] p^ontispiece to May
Front View of the same S ^ •'

The New Hospital of the Free Methodist
Mission at Wenchow, China ..

The Mandarin Company of Revisers

Her Majesty the Bmpress-Dowager

His Imperial Majesty Kuang Hsii

Conference of Women, Weihsien, Shantung.

English Methodist College(U.M.F.C.)Ningpo. Facing p. 571.

^^^ Ho^pUal'' ^^"^^°)^^^^''^"^ ^.T^""! \ Frontispiece to November

" Talmage Memorial "—The Union Middle \ December

School of Amoy, and Students, 1906 ... ' '* "

ist i

June

July
August
September
October

1

INDEX TO VOL. XXXVI1.-1906.

Page.
Address of the Rev. Arthur Jiulson Browu, D.D., at the Banquet to the

Chinese Imperial High Commissioners 434

American Bible Society and the War, The Rev. H. Loomis. 33

Beebe, Mrs. Robert Case — In Memoriam G. A. S. 617

Bible and Missions, The ... Bishop James W. Bashford. 375, 425, 47S

Bishop Westcott on Missions Rev. Arnold Foster. 25, 74, 132

Book Table ... 46, 103, 159, 219, 270, 230, 397, 454, 512, 572, 630, 695

China Centenary ^lissionary Conference, The 316

Chinese Christianity Right Rev. F. R. Graves. 295

Chinese Etiquette, Desultory Notes on some of the Elements of

The Late Rev. A. G. Jones. 531

Chinese Language, The Study of the Rev. D. Willard Lvon. 415

Church Praise Department : —

•'Glory Song," The Chas. H. Gabriel. 443

Pentatonic Music : Some Suggestions and Experiences.

Rev. J. E. Walker. 497

Showers of Blessing. — Gloria in Cruce. — Gabriel. Rcv-CS-Champness. 92

•' The Glory Song " Rev. I. Genahr. 562

"True hearted, whole-hearted " Frances Havergal. 563

Conference Notes Rev. G. H. Bondfield. 679

Correspondence 45. loi. I54. 216, 265, 391, 451, 509, 625, 691

Davis, Mrs. Alice S — In Memoriam Rev. Hampden C. DuBose, D.D. 557

Debating Club Method, The Rev. J. E. Walker. 661

Diary of Events in the Far East 61, 173, 589

Duncan, Rev. M. B., M.A., LL.D Rev. E. Morgan. 558

Editorial Comment 51, 105, 163, 224, 278, 336, 402, 459, 515, 578, 635, 701
Educational Department : —

Appeal from the Committee of the Friends Foreign Mission, An

F. L. H. P. 445

Chinese Exclusion 42

Christian Education : A Great Opportunity ... Rev. E W. Burt. 446

Conference on Girls' Schools at Mo-kan-shan 503

Education in Chili ... 506

Educational Association for Fukien Province ... 618

Educational Directory in China, The ... 325

Educational Issues from Native Presses ... 3S4

Educational Outlook in Wuchang, The. Rev. Arnold Foster. 36, 208, 258

Educational Problems of To-day Rev. J. A. Silshv. 500

English Methodist College, Ningp^, The 571

English or Chinese ? Prof. Arthur Llovd. 323

Executive Committee, Meetings of the 151, 328

F. L. H. P. 's Editorial in " St. Jolin's Echo " 326

Foreign Schools and the Chinese Governnic-nt

Friends' Foreign Mission Association's New Boys' High School at

Chungking Well Wisher. 151

Glance at Berkeley, A 689

Higher Education, The Cost of ... ... ... ... ... ... 565

Military Training, More about .. ... ... ... ... ... .. 622

Notes... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 99

Permanent Secretary F. L- H. P. 446

147

iv Index.

Recognition of the Mission Schools by the Chinese Government, The

Rev. LiNDENMEYER. 96

Shantung Union College, The 95

St. Louis Educational Exhibit, The Gilbert Reid. 327

Vernacular Schools and Vernacular Education. Rev. P. W. Pitcher. 681

Why Students do not enter Christian Work ...Rev. J. H. Judson. 563
Evangelization of Korea, Policy and Methods for the

Rev. Samuel A. Moffett. 235
How can we best meet the New Conditions which are coming into As-
cendancy in China ? Dr. E. J Osgood. 485

Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall. A Practical Course for the Construction of

Electrical Apparatus Dr. William Wilson. 200

Independence and Co-operation in the Church of Christ in Japan

Rev. A. Oltmans. 63

In Touch with Christ 206

Japanese Language, The Study of the Rev. D. C. Greene. 355

Japanese Soldiers in Manchuria, Bible and Tract Distribution to '313

Lao Tzii Redivivus Rev. W. Arthur Cornaby. 67, 124

Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew : —

VI. Study Your Servants 189

VII. On Manners 363

Lien-chow Massacre, What Caused the? Rev. H. V. Noyes. 115

Message for the Times, A Rev. E. Box. 600

Missionary Grave, A. In Memory of the Late Rev. A. G. Jones. W. P. C. 672

Missionary Journal 62, 114, 174, 234, 294, 354, 414, 470, 530, 590, 652, 711

Missionary News 58, no, 168, 230, 287, 343, 410, 466, 521, 583, 642, 708

Missionary's Book-Bill, The. Rev. F. W. Biblk. 372

' Ni ' in Prayer, On the Use of Rev. W. H. GiLLESPiE. 120

Opium Question, The. A New Opportunity ... John A. Anderson. 431

Our Relations with the Chinese Rev. J. Sadler. 249

Pentatonic Music : Some Suggestions and Experiences. Rev. J.E.Walker. 496

Principle and an Application, A Rev. P. F. Price. 16

Psalmody in Foochow Rev. C. S. Champness. 674

Question of Union, The, I. A General Statement. Rev. J. B. Cochran. 305

Do. II. Possible Plan, A ...Rev. A Sydenstricker. 308

Do. III. Some Objections ... Rev. R. M. Mateer. 310

Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. Rev. D. Ferguson. 175

Religion of Intelligence, The ... Prof. Borden P. Bowne, LLD. 653

Romish Testimony to Evangelical Effort 94

Schereschewsky, Bishop— In Memoriani ... Right Rev. F. R. Graves. 615

Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese Rev. I. Genahr. 471. 548

Situation in Manchuria, Notes on the James W. Inglis. 252

Spiritual Regeneration of China, The Rev. W. P. Chalfant. i

Statistics of Missions and Churches whose Headquarters are at Hangchow

for the year Z, Q, ending January, 1906. Right Rev. Bishop MoULE. 143

Student Volunteer Convention, The. Nashville, Tenn. Rev. G. F. Fitch. 256

Sunday vSchool Organization in China Rev. W. C. White. 667

" Term Question," The C. 89

Theological Literature, Some Recent Contributions to. Rev. H.W.Oldham. 84

ThreeWeeks with Opium Smokers in a ChineseVillage. Rev. Wm. C.White. 591
" Union " from Two Standpoints. I. A Principle and an Application

Rev. P. F. Price. 16

Do. II. Some Perils and Difficulties... A Cautious Sympathiser. 22
Whiting, Rev. J. L., D.D.— In Memoriam.

Rev. W. A. P. Martin, D.D., LL.D. 556

MRS. MACHINE.

AMY MACHLE.

DR. ELEANOR CHESNIJT.

MRS. PEALE. REV. J. R. PEA I.E.

The Presbyterian Missionaries Massacred at Lien-chow, 28th October, i9t)5

(See page 55.)

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $J.75) per annunit postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. JANUARY, I9O6. NO. 1,

The Spiritual Regeneration of China.

BY REV. VV. P. CHALFANT.

[The following sermon was preached at the recent annual meeting of the
West Shantung Presbyterian Mission. Its earnest spirit and hopeful ring
lead us to select it as a suitable introduction to this new volume. — Ed.
Recorder.]

Ezekiel xxxvii. j. ^' A?id he said imto mc. Son of vian^ can
these bones live f And I a^iswered, O Lord Gody thou k7iozuest.'^

A GRUESOME vision this, but one which from its very
gruesomeness takes hold upon the imagination.

Israel had been faithless to her mission as spiritual
leader among the nations. Prosperity had brought riches, and
riches while they tempted covetous enemies fostered pride and
selfish indulgence. Indulgence wrought decadence. Her
ancient valor decayed ; blinded by the sensual heathen cults
about her and within her, her spiritual vision was darkened ;
moral corruption poisoned her national life like a deadly
miasma ; the spiritual few who lifted warning voices were flouted
or smitten.

Israel' s cup of iniquity was full.

Then by the working of the inexorable laws by which God
rules this world, the scourge descended again and yet again.
And now the northern army, the terrible strangers, the ruthless
soldiers of Chaldea were upon their coveted prey for the last time !

In vain the alarum trumpets blared in the streets of Jeru-
salem. ' ' Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound the alarm in
my holy mountain ; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ;
for the day of the lyord cometh, for it is nigh at hand . . .

2 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

A great people and a strong ; there hatli not been ever the like . . .
A fire devonretli before them and behind them a flame bnrneth ;
the land is as the garden of Eden before them, but behind them
a desolate wilderness." (Joel ii. 1-3.)

Before that desolating blast the national life of Jndah and
of Israel came very nearly going out for ever.

Among the first captives in the first or second deportation
marched the prophet-priest Ezekiel. The Spirit of God was
upon him. He dreamed strange dreams and saw stupendous
visions ; he spared not to enforce the lessons of God's chastise-
ment upon the minds of the disconsolate captives by the river
Chebar, and he saw, too, the glory at the latter end.

Nationally and spiritually Israel was dead^ dead as the
bleached skeletons of the valley of vision. " Son of man, can
these bones live?" And the humbled prophet answered:
*'0 Lord God, thou knowest ! " Then before his eyes, for his
comfort and the comfort of the remnant of God's chosen people
and for the comfort of all those who, throughout the centuries,
strive to bring men back to God, Jie saw those bleached
skeletons, clothed iipon with wholesome flesh and inspired by
the breath of a new life, stand up npon their feet, "an exceed-
ing great army." " With God all things are possible."

The principles of honest homilectics forbid the unqualified
application of the teaching of the j^rophet's vision to the subject
which I have chosen to discuss, namely, the spiritual regenera-
tion of China. The characteristics, missions and circumstances
of the two peoples are too dissimilar for that.

And yet there is enough in the spiritual condition of China,
using the word "spiritual" in its widest sense as covering the
intellectual and moral and religious life of man, to justify the
use of one ominous word of description, and that word is death.
The more attentively the humble prophet of the living God
watches the varied activities of Chinese life, the moie clearly
does he catch glimpses of the white emblems of spiritual death
that lurk beneath it ; and the better he knows his China, the
more heavily will he be burdened, as was Ezekiel of old, with
the overwhelming mass and the apparent hopelessness of this
death in life. The bones of dead China, like the bones of dead
Israel — " are very many, and, behold, they are very dry."

Whatever good gifts Confucius, or Lao Tzu, or Buddha,
may have given to China they have failed to confer the most
essential of all gifts — spirittcal life.

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of China. 5

And now the church of Christ hears the solemn challenge :
*'Son of man, can these bones live?" Possibly some may be
disposed to reply: "No, Lord, it cannot be." Many more
are ready to say: "Certainly, Lord, it is a simple matter. If
the home churches will contribute so much money and send out
so many missionaries each year, China will be Christianized in
the present generation." But the most of us, I venture to say,
warned by the lessons of history and chastened by personal
experiences of bitter disappointment, will be content to say with
Ezekiel : " O Lord God, thoit knowest / "

It is easy to predict the conquest of China by Christianity,
but it is well to remember that Christianity has, by no means,
taken root in every soil where it has been planted. Not only
so, but Christianity, where it has outwardly prevailed, has again
and again, in conspicuous and lamentable instances, grown at
the expense of the spiritual life, which is its real essence.
Before the first century had passed, the parent church of Judea
was divided and virtually dying. Ulhorn says in an article on
the Jewish Christian sect of the Ebionites : "The disintegra-
tion of Jewish Christianity was consummated by the intro-
duction of Gnostic philosophy, of Greek culture, as also, per-
haps, of Oriental theosophy."

Where are the churches of Asia Minor, planted by Apostolic
hands ? Where are the churches of South Galatia, of Macedonia,
of Achaia ? A few degenerate Christian communities among
the Copts and Abyssinians are all that is left of the once
triumphant church of North Africa. The vast majority of the
African churches adopted what was declared to be a heresy by
the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451; the small orthodox
party, backed by the orthodox Emperors at Byzantium, aban-
doned argument for political intrigue and then for the club
and dagger, and for more than a century Christians reviled ^nd
slew each other in the streets until, when the conquering
hordes of the Prophet invade(! Egypt (680), history has to
record that the exhausted Christian church hailed them openly
as deliverers ! That is what happened to the church that
produced an ApoUos and a Clement, and a TertuUian and an
Augustine !

Greece accepted Christianity and, behold, Russia!

Imperial Rome bowed her neck to the yoke of the Nazarene, and,
behold, a vast religious organism covering the earth but, alas, so
lacking in vital spirituality that in many of the countries where

4 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

it holds sway it is difficult to distinguish in morals or worship
between it and the paganism which it has displaced. It is
impossible for us to go further into detail, but such facts as these
show that the nature of its environment, the moral and political
forces to which it is subjected, the speculative views which it
encounters, and, above all, the national characteristics of the
peoples who embrace it, have very much to do with the real
triumph of Christianity in any land.

Accordingly in carrying on the modern missionary pro-
pagandum of the Protestant churches we do well to give heed
to the signs of the times. The religious future of Japan is not
as bright from our standpoint as it is frequently represented to
be. Japan has borrowed the material and ethical fruits of
Christian civilization while manifestly by no means prepared to
accept the Gospel of Christ. Having overthrown Russia on land
and sea by the use of modern weapons, her Emperor and
generals and admirals proceed to thank the august spirits of
their ancestors for the victory. In China the task before us is
one of the most gigantic the church has ever faced and one
that will be rendered still more difficult, in all probability, by a
rehabilitation of Confucianism and a recrudescence of Buddhism.
The latter movement seems already to have begun, under
Japanese influence, at Peking.

I advert to this whole subject of the uncertainties in Chris-
tian development not with the cynical purpose of dampening
missionary enthusiasm but rather as a background upon which
to sketch, however lightly, what is actually being accomplished
in China. It may serve to remind us, however, that we are
engaged in no child's play. Many an army has suffered
defeat merely because it underestimated the strength of the
enemy.

Let us glance first at the intellectual aspect of China's
national life. The intellectual stagnation of China is one of
the notorious phenomena of the world. Here is a people
whose feet were set upon the road to the highest stage of
civilization. They had their sages, philosophers and scholars
and yet for centuries they have not taken one step in advance.
They have, in these latter centuries, given no great thought to
the world ; they have produced practically no original literature ;
they have not investigated the facts and forces of nature about
them. In spite of abounding shrewdness and much wholesome
common sense, their abstract reasoning is so far from contact

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of China. 5

with reality that it is often positively absurd. Their educational
system on the one hand furnishes a small number of conceited
pedants and on the other leaves the mass of the people in
absolute illiteracy. Everywhere we perceive intellectual stagna-
tion, intellectual death. Bones ! Bones ! Very many and
very dry !

"Can these bones live?" The Christian church, to her
eternal honor be it said, set about to answer that question in a
very practical way. The noble institution under whose shadow
we meet is eloquent of long and patient years of labor, and that
in more than one mission centre, to awaken the dead intellect of
China.

There is much to justify a comparison between the intel-
lectual torpor of the Dark Ages in Europe and that of China
to-day, or, let us say, of yesterday^ so fast is the hand upon the
dial now moving. Both were characterized by an almost
idolatrous adhesion to the past. Aristotle, although really little
more than a name to most of his worshippers, was regarded with
an unreasoning veneration only surpassed by that which the
Chinese literati pay to Confucius. Both had embraced, the
Chinaman unconsciously, that deductive philosophy wdiich led
the scholastic pedant to imagine that all the secrets of the world
were within his single grasp just as the Chinese books declare
that the Confucian scholar, seated in his study (save the mark !),
needs not to go abroad to comprehend all things in the universe!
**Hsiu ts'ai pu ch'u men, pien chi t'ien hsia shi. "

But in Europe there came the Renaissance. Europe was
intellectually born again. Now, with our own eyes we are
beholding the beginning of the Renaissance of China.

But there is a contrast here, and in that contrast lies much
hope. for Christian progress. The impulse which produced the
European Renaissance came not from within the Church of
Christ but from without it and beyond it.

It came from the recovery of the classic lore of Greece and
Rome and from the first faint gleams of a scientific knowledge
of the world in which we live. When, on the other hand, the
history of the Renaissance of China is written, it will be found
that the church of Christ has, from the very first, taken the lead
in stimulating that new life. In the school-room engaged in
the practical work of instruction, in the way-side inn, in the
village home, amid the sorry state of the official yamen, over
the smoking tea-cups in the guest-room, the voice of the

6 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

missionary has still been for education and reform. He it is
that by word of mouth and through the press has marshalled the
convincing facts of Western progress. He it is that has prepared
whole libraries of books and placed these books with an earnest
word and a secret prayer in the hands of hundreds of thousands
of thoughtful Chinese men. He it is (and I would that our
language included such a pronoun as would make it clear that
we by no means leave out of view the noble wives and the
sisters in Christ who share with husband and brother the heat
and burden of the day !) he it is, I say, who in the weary round
of class-room work or in the course of labors of other sorts, has
driven home the wedge of truth into the very centre of China's
intellectual being and has let in the light at last.

Thus has the Christian church, led by a wisdom higher than
her own, seized a splendid coign of vantage. At this moment
there are no better schools in China than the advanced Christian
schools, and the Chinese who know anything about the subject
are perfectly aware of it. As we have learned to our cost, the
government schools are not only non-Christian but are apt to be,
at heart, anti-Christian. Under Japanese leading this will hardly
be less the case. Our hope is that the work of Christian teachers
who are themselves awake to the detnands of modern thought,
thoroughly equipped for their work, and, withal, full of the
Spirit of Christ, may turn out students who shall fairly force
recognition by reason of superior merit. The issue is already
joined, and the cheering fact is that the leading men among the
instructors of China, foreign and native, are Christian men.

Let us labor and pray that we may hold the position thus
nobly and patiently won.

Speaking from the intellectual standpoint, then, there is
no need to ask the question : ' ' Can these bones live ?' '

Behold, they have already stirred, and we see them in the act
of arising from their age-long sleep, "an exceeding great army."
Let us stand behind our brothers and sisters of the class-room
and bid them be of good cheer. If any one feels called upon to
administer, betimes, the wholesome acid of criticism let him not
fail to add a due portion of the soothing anodyne of apprecia-
tion! " Bear ye one another's burdens and .so fulfill the law of
Christ."

"Oh, Rock! Rock ! When wilt thou break," cried the dying
Xavier as he gazed from his island refuge across misty waters
to China's forbidden mainland. For three and a half centuries

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of China. 7

God's hammers, great and small, have been ringing on this stub-
born rock until the rifts are widening at last. And among the
mightiest of all those hammers of God is Christian education.

Now let us turn from China's intellect to China's heart.
As a nation thinketh in its heart, so is it. I ask you to look
with me upon three aspects of China's inner life : upon her
practical benevolence, her common morality and her religious
convictions. No exhaustive treatment will be attempted, no
ambitious philosophizing indulged in ; we shall speak of things
that we see and know.

One of the most stubborn as well as most portentous facts
in this world is the fact of human suffering. Poverty, disease
and death are ever with us. Above the mingling noises of
human activity the hearing ear can catch, like the ominous
murmur of a troubled sea, the pathetic note of the universal,
endless anguish of mankind.

What is China's normal attitude to human suffering? It is
an attitude of apathy, running all the way from fatalistic
resignation to a brutish callousness positively shocking. It is
not our intention to slander a great people for the purpose of
establishing a sermonic thesis.

The benevolent impulses common to mankind are by no
means lacking here. Who has not known the man or woman
praised by all for rescuing, let us say, the foundling cast out by
heartless or despairing parents to die ?

Who does not number among his acquaintances workers of
righteousness who distribute adhesive plasters to ailing neigh-
bours ? One does not forget, moreover, the courtesy and kind-
ly sympathy which he has himself constantly experienced. The
milk, or perhaps we should say, in this case, the oil of human
kindness, is not missing in China.

In the way of public charity we do not ignore the occasional
court of ramshackle buildings which does duty as a shelter for
beggars, nor forget those smoking rows of kettles in Chi-nan-fu
where, in years of famine, thousands of hungry refugees receive
their daily dole of millet. These things and things like them
we try to bear in mind, yet we are constrained to repeat that
callousness to human suffering is a conspicuous blemish upon the
Chinese character. Selfishness, poverty, timidity, and, above
all else, daily familiarity with the misery pressed close around
one by the density of population, have conspired to thwart
and, sometimes, to kill the impulse of pity and the desire to help.

8 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

So we find a people practically without hospitals, without
asylums for the orphaned, the insane, the blind, the deaf and
dumb and with next to no organized measures to relieve the
sufferings of the poor. Foot-binding and juridical torture are
national institutions.

It is here again that the Christian Evangel comes like the
breath of a new life. Ever since the Master stood up in the
synagogue of Nazareth and, making the words of ancient
prophecy his own, proclaimed his mission, no Christian can
mistake his duty toward the unfortunate and the suffering.

"The Spirit of God is upon me, because He anointed
me to preach good tidings to the poor. He hath sent me to
proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord. ' ' From that very hour the Chris-
tian church has set itself to relieve the burdens of a suffering
world.

Again and again the Christian missionary has thrown him-
self into the breach when the grim onset of famine has driven
the despairing Chinese peasant gasping to the wall, and in doing
it he has shown, in an unmistakable way, the difference between
official largess, doled out by venal hands and too often paid for
in terms of cruelty or lust, and Christian beneficence, discrimi-
nating and kindly, administered without so much as a dishon-
est tliought !

Since Christianity invaded her borders China has seen un-
wonted sights. vShe has seen orphans gathered and housed and
fed and taught. She has seen the blind, deaf and dumb taken
up and with infinite patience made into useful members of so-
ciety. She has seen compassionate hands stretched out to help
the victim of opium back from the haunted land of his bondage.
Most conspicuously of all she has seen the whole empire dotted
with hospitals and dispensaries where consecrated men and
women do battle with disease, not for sake of man's praise, nor
for merit in the world to come, but for the love of men, for
whom Christ died. Christianity answers the problem of human
suffering not by the platitudes of philosophy but by deeds of
love. This constitutes the real significance of our medical
work. It is a vast illustration that all China cannot but see, of
the inner spirit of Christianity.

Our medical department is not a shrewd expedient to disarm
prejudice. It is an integral part of our Evangel.

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of China. 9

We heal the sick, moreover, not merely because Christ
did it. We do it ultimately, we humbly trust, for the same
reason that He did it — out of tender compassion for a sujQfering
world.

Brothers and sisters of the consulting-room and the scal-
pel, we salute you ! When we see you take hold of disease in its
most loathsome forms we think of Jesus of Nazareth who,
ignoring the ritual law, touched a leper and said: ^*Be thou
clean ! '* May His Spirit be in you, lifting your service high
above all that is professional or perfunctory, and inspiring you
to speak, from time to time, a warm and direct word in His
name to some soul made receptive by kindness.

But the main question at this point is whether the varied
display of Christian benevolence which China has seen, and is
seeing, has awakened an answering throb of emulation in the
Chinese heart. Are the dry bones of China's altruism begin-
ning, under the vivifying influence of the Gospel, to show signs
of life ? It is a large question, and one not so readily answered
as the one concerning intellectual progress. We naturally
look for the answer first in the Chinese church itself. The
church is too weak as yet, and too dependent to show what may
be expected along these lines, but surely it is true that the
native church clearly understands and cordially accepts the
Christian standards of altruism. The Christian doctrine of the
brotherhood of man, as based on sonship to a loving Father,
and illustrated and made real to the world through the life and
death of Christ, has placed the duty of mutual helpfulness upon
a new and solid basis. Instead of being a sort of moral
embellishment, to be expected only of the men and women who
have means and leisure to affect it, altruism is discovered to be
the main business of our lives. So far from being something
over and above righteousness, love is in itself the fulfilling of
the law. This is the great seminal thought that has been
dropped by Christianity into the Cliinese mind, or, if you please,
that has been stirred to new life there. A new estimate of
human worth emerges. A new value is set upon human life.
These ideals are already alive in the Chinese church. And
their power to save and to transform will wax and not wane as
the years go by.

Like us, the Chinese Christian intends to square his life
with the new law of love, and if he fails fully as often as he
succeeds, why, forsooth, so do we!

iO The Chinese Recorder. [January,

But the Christian influence toward practical benevolence
here, as in Japan, is felt far beyond the limits of the church.

Where had the anti-footbinding crusade its origin if not
in Christian precept and example ? Nor is the significance of
this movement exhausted by the accomplishment of the
immediate end proposed, an end \Yhich alone would be sufficient
to cause coming generations of Chinese maids or matrons to arise
and bless the name of Christianity ; it speaks, further, of a
general and growing tenderness of feeling which is otherwise
illustrated.

For example, the proposition to do away with the time-
honored custom of judicial torture has already been made to the
throne. The fate of that frightful institution, with all its
inferno of outrage, suffering and injustice, is practically sealed.
China is growing sensitive to the humane convictions of the
Western world, and those convictions, in turn, are the ripe
fruit of a civilization predominantly Christian.

There is little flesh upon the dry bones as yet, but they are
moving — surely they are moving ! There are signs of the
approaching victory of the Cross. What is the most moment-
ous feature of the epoch-making drama of war now drawing
to its close in Manchuria ? I venture to think that it is not to
be looked for in the new hegemony of Japan in East Asia,
portentous as her political ascendency will be. Much less is
it to be sought for in war-like lessons concerning field-guns,
submarines and battleships. Viewed from the Christian
standpoint in the light of the coming day of moral triumph
which revelation and science alike presage for mankind, the
most eloquent fact in all that struggle is that over the field
hospitals of non-Christian Japan as well as of Christian Russia,
floats the white banner emblazoned with the Red Cross which
all the world is learning to honor. Before that sign the
sword-point falls and the cannon are silent. Commander and
soldier may not hear the message of those banners, though may-
hap more of them hear it than we think. But whether they
hear it or not we hear it, and hundreds of thousands of Chris-
tian men and women all over the world hear it. That message
is that war is doomed. It is that love is stronger than death
and destruction. It is that a new heaven and a new earth
are about to be revealed, the New Jerusalem of the old
Jewish hope, in which righteousness shall dwell but love shall

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of Cliina. 11

" For not by sword's loud clashing
Nor roll of stirring drums,
But deeds of love and merc}^

The heavenly kingdom comes."

But there is at least one thing more necessary than to be
kind, and that is to be honest ; there is at least one thing more
desirable than to be helpful, and that is to tell the truth. With
your permission we step across the shadowy boundary from the
realm of practical benevolence to that of common morality-
Pardon a personal reference. When I arrived in China
I was distinctly disappointed in one regard. The Chinese
were, so to speak, not bad enough to suit me ! Mindful
of the first chapter of Romans, I came fully expecting to
behold lying, theft, uncleanness, rapine and murder on every
hand. It was months, if not years, before I saw a practical
illustration of even the mildest crime in that category. Then
came an unpleasant experience or two, and I said in my haste :
"All Chinese are liars" — also thieves — ^also several other
unpleasant things. The Chinese are not saints, neither are
they satyrs. I think we must call them, on the whole, a moral
people, but theirs is a morality with obvious defects, and which
moves upon too low a plane withal.

For one thing their moral ideas have been so warped by
formalism that they are often unable to distinguish between a
rule of etiquette and a law of God. When a new-comer, begin-
ning to understand a little of the people's talk, I stood one day
in a dusty village street beside a senior missionary and heard
him tell the parable of the two sons, one of whom said : "I
go ! " and went not, while the other said : " I go not" and
then thought better of it and went, " Wliicli of th^se two, "
asked the preacher, " did the will of his father ? " " The first ^'^^
promptly answered a villager. "Why, how do you make that
out ?' ' asked the somewhat disconcerted missionary. ' ' Because, ' '
replied the Chinese casuist, "Because he avoided making his
father angry?" It is better to deceive than to offend ; it is
better to lie, to run away like a coward, or even to do violence
than to " lose face " ; it is better to commit suicide than to put
up with a real or fancied affront. An official can rob his people
right and left and take bribes shamelessly, and yet if he do it
within certain limits, and with proper decorum, the local gentry
will hang up his boots in the city gate when he departs and set
up a memorial tablet by the road- side.

42 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

Sometimes one feels as though he lived in a land of moral
phantasms where the worse is the better reason. But more
fundamental is a certain general weakness in China's moral
character, a lack of moral stamina and independent strength.
If those among us who have lived longest in this land were
asked, What is China's sorest moral lack? the answer would
probably be instant and unanimous : ' ' China lacks conscience ! ' '
That foundation stone in moral character, that which makes a
man the most relentless judge of his own acts and holds him
firmly to duty, come weal, come woe — that element is sadly
deficient here. The Chinese conscience is well-nigh dead.

It is Christianity's crowning task to rouse and to cultivate
it. That there has been progress in the Chinese church along
these lines few would be disposed to deny, but undoubtedly it
is at this point that we put our finger upon the weak spot in
Chinese Christian character. "Son of man, can these bones
live ? " " O Lord God, thou knowest ! "

Moral ideas are of slow growth, and they are correspond-
ingly hard to change. Moral perfection is still far off in Chris-
tendom, and that in spite of centuries of Christian teaching.
Look at the government of our chief American cities ! Has
Chinese officialdom anything more morally rotten than our city
*' rings" ? And yet there is a difference.

In America and England, speaking broadly, when moral
turpitude is thoroughly exposed and recognized, it is branded for
what it is, and lashed by the scorpion whips of the outraged
moral judgment of the people. In China, on the other hand,
rarely indeed does immorality, unless indeed it happen to have
a personal bearing, excite more than here and there an academic
protest. Doubtless we here occupy debatable ground, but that
there is a real superiority in the moral judgment of Christian
America, for example, over that of non-Christian China, does not,
it seems to me, admit of dispute. And this difference lies ultima-
tely, I repeat, in the development of conscience. The Christian
ideal of absolute moral purity and truth has long been lifted
before the eyes of the Chinese. It is proposed that that ideal
shall be realized in daily life, and to that end the whole power
of precept and example of the Christian church is bent. That
the end is far from being attained is evident, but that it will be
reached in God's own time it is our privilege to believe.
There is being slowly developed in China a type of character
beside which the ideal man of the sages, the "Chiin Tsi/*

1906.] The Spiritual Reg'eneration of China. 13

dear to Chinese lips if not to heart, will come to seem a pale and
almost grotesque figure.

For there is no resting-place in the Christian conception of
moral character this side of the Master's "Be ye perfect as
your Father in heaven is perfect" — ^^ as your Father in heaven
is perfect P^ Here is a new note. It is the note of religion.
Is it not here that, at last, we perceive the essential difference
between the moral system of China and that of the Christian
faith ?

The one is based on human moral ideas, even though some-
times vaguely associated with the will of " heaven " ; the other
goes frankly back to the character and gracious purpose of a lov-
ing heavenly Father. It is vain to linger in the merely moral
realm. If ethical teaching alone could make men good, surely
China would by this time need no missionaries. But mere ethical
teaching never has wrought that transformation, and never will.
Either the human spirit needs a certain impulse and a certain
support from God, the ultimate source of spiritual life, or we
have no Gospel worth preaching. And the reception of that
impulse and the enjoyment of that support depend upon the
personal attitude of the individual toward God.

Perhaps the most obvious feature of the religious life of the
Chinese is its emptiness, its insincerity. The Chinese have
lost, if they ever possessed, their grasp of spiritual realities.
About the most vital of their cults is that of ancestral worship,
and that is frankly the worship of man.

They are at once Confucianists and Buddhists and Taoists
and nature worshippers, but their souls are starving for the
bread which comes down from heaven, all the same. Their
brightest minds applaud the dictum of their master: " Ching
kuei shen er yiian chi " — "Worship the shades and gods, but
keep at a safe distance from them." Their belief in the
Supreme Being has become so attenuated and obscured that it
has lost its influence on daily life. The only hope for the
moral regeneration of China lies in the opening of the eyes of
her sons and daughters to see God. And where can they see
God more clearly than through Him who came to reveal Him ?
Here is the ultimate justification of our Christian propagandum
in China and everywhere else. There has always been in this
world a vast amount of religion almost totally divorced, to put
it mildly, from morality. There has also been a large amount
of morality divorced from religion ; but religion without

14 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

morality is a hideous caricature, and morality without religion
is — dry bones I

In the valley of China's moribund ethics sounds the voice
of the Christian herald. Over that death in life is proclaimed
the double message of our faith — man's utter sinfulness and
God's redeeming love. It is the same message which the
prophets from Samuel to John the Baptist, nay, which Christ
Himself proclaimed : ''^ Repent^ for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. ' '

The Chinese moralist learns that immorality is worse than
immorality — it is sin ! Nor is it easy to bring home that
thought to him, seeing that about the only word that he can
use to approximate the idea means also the discomfort of a
journey.

It is even as Paul puts it. Only when immorality appears
in its true colors, as offence against God's law, is the conscience
fully aroused and "sin becomes exceeding sinful." Only then
is man's proud spirit humbled and prepared to listen to the
voice of God's free grace.

Then comes the all-persuasive, all-conquering story of the
Cross and the trumpet call to enter the Messianic kingdom.
Perhaps a hundred thousand Chinese men and women have
already obeyed that call, and hundreds and thousands are, year
by year, pressing in. But numerical growth is not spiritual
development, so the Christian missionary watches eagerly,
sometimes half fearfully, for signs that the Spirit of God is
really taking hold of the Chinese heart. Chilians whole f dure
depends on this.

Without a heart full of loyal, adoring love to the living
God, her moral status will remain dead as the ghastly relics of
Kzekiel's vision ; while without a morality vitalized and sanc-
tioned by a sense of man's responsibility to a holy God, the
intellectual awakening of China will produce a Frankenstein
monster more terrible than human mind can well conceive.

So we work and watch for the crisis which will decide
whether we are laboring in vain ; we watch for the awakening
of the Christian consciousness of the Chinese church. I have
known men to object to that term for the curious reason that it
originated in Germany !

To most of us it seems to be an admirable term. It is,
at all events, an attempt to name the most potent, if the most
elusive, element in Christianity ; that consensus of feeling

1906.] The Spiritual Regeneration of China. 15

among Christians who live nearest to God, which makes for the
perpetuation of Christian ideals and the appropriate development
of Christian life. It is analogous to that selective affinity in
man which keeps him physically and psychologically true to
the human type.

What is this influence in the Christian church but the
presence of the Spirit, which Christ promised to His disciples, to
lead them into all truth ?

When this Christian consciousness fully awakes in the
Chinese church the victory is in a fair way to be won.

And there are indications that it is awakening. The
terrible ordeal of the year nineteen hundred may be said to
mark a stage in this awakening. Then it was that there
appeared before the throne of God the first great company of
China's army of martyrs. When men and women had not
shrunk to die for Christ, will those like unto them utterly refuse
to live for Him ? I think not.

Then it was, too, that the Chinese church learned that
there are circumstances when vain is the help of man, when
even the foreign pastor cannot deliver his flock from the enemy,
a lesson yet to be more fully learned by the church which is in
China.

A new sense of the serious significance of the Christian life
has come over the church, if we mistake not.

Again, the increasing movements toward church union are
at once the proof of, and the stimulus toward, the awakening of
the Christian consciousness.

Every step toward independence, material or ecclesiastical,
is in the direction of stimulating the same germ of divine life.
God grant us wisdom and patience and grace to lead forward
the infant church to a fuller recognition of her duties, her
obligations and her responsibility in the sight of God.

Through His church in other lands, working in school and
hospital and in the direct Evangei, God has touched at once the
mind and the heart and the soul of dead China with a new and
thrilling touch of power. Ezekiel was a prophet of the Lord,
but he did not dare to decide how God would choose to work.
Much less we. But we have seen enough to awaken in our
breasts a great and inspiring hope that, some day, redeemed from
death, and clad in strength and beauty and grace divine, the
army of the church of China will stand forth to work out a
destiny gloriousbeyond all present thought !

16 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

" Union " from Two Standpoints.

I.

A Principle and an Application.

BY REV. p. F. PRICE, DONG-SHANG.

" T TNION is in the air." The rapidity with which
II various ecclesiastical federations are being con-
summated would have been deemed impossible fifty
years ago. Some of these marriages — the most of them, let us
hope — are happy and will abide ; while others, lacking the true
basis of union, will lead to further separation in the days to
come.

It is well for us at this time to pause and inquire as to the
different elements that make up this movement toward union
among the Protestant churches, and to search into the funda-
mental principles that are essential toward making any union
real, lasting and beneficial.

There are three parties that express the mental attitude of
various parts of the Protestant church toward union : —

I. There are those who hold that their own system is the
one infallible expression of the mind of the Spirit in church
organization and life. They will consent only to that union
which is an absorption. This is an impossible class. Now we
know that the Good Shepherd has many folds which shall
become "one flock and one Shepherd." His people, from many
denominations, are gathered into perfect union in heaven. And
if from those who have gone before we could in some way
receive some hint as to how all views are harmonised there, we
should no doubt find that truth in its perfect form dwells now
with no one denomination, but that it lies more or less equally
between all those who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity.
Certainly we should find that church which is nearest to the
perfect church is not that churcli which holds itself to be
infallible. The first step into holiness is humility. The very
first step into purity of church life is the recognition of the fact
that churches are liable to err. The Lord Jesus promised the
binding and loosing power of the witness-bearing Spirit to
His apostles and to the church, only as the church should yield
herself to divine guidance. He had to rebuke Peter the next
moment after he first spoke the famous words. Pride had

1906.] ** Union" from Two Standpoints. \7

entered Peter's heart, and the seal of the Spirit did certainly
not accompany the words which he then spoke to his Master.
A boasting chnrch is not after the Lord's own heart.
*' Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing ; .... I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire." The party which holds itself to
be infallible does not represent the union which the Lord
will bless. Its claim to infallibility stamps it as an imperfect
church.

2. There are those who, in their intense desire for union,
exalt it to a place which the Lord Himself never gave it. These
say that the world points the finger of scorn at the divisions of
Protestantism, and in their zeal for healing these divisions they
are willing to sacrifice almost anything. One says, "Anything
for union." Another says, ''I am willing to unite on almost
any basis." It is true the Lord prayed, "That they may be
one. " It is true also that in the same prayer, before those words.
He had prayed, " Sanctify them throitgJi Thy truth ; Thy word is
tricthy The Word, the faith once delivered unto the saints, the
doctrines of divine revelation in their purity, are the means in
the hands of God for the sanctification of His people. Better
that we should have no outward union than that any of us
should give up that which he is convinced is eternal truth.
And the contention of every man should be for the whole truth,
"the whole counsel of God." And it is a giving up of truth
when we go from under a banner on which the truth is written,
and march under another on which it is suppressed. The Lord
has given us many precious truths of revelation, for each one of
which some martyr has witnessed by his death, and each one
of which it behoves us to guard with sacred and jealous care.
Now Christian unity is one of these truths, but is not the only
one. Better withstand a brother to the face than yield to the
seductions of a corrupt creed. '•''First pure, then peaceable."
Some men are so afraid of a controversy. They regard it as
un-Christian. They must have everything sweet and amiable,
no matter what heresy goes unchallenged. Better controversy
than corruption, brethren. The ages of controversy were the
ages of purity of doctrine in the church. The evils of con-
troversy let us all condemn — the human prejudice, the sectarian
and unforgiving spirit. Better such an one as the great con-
troversialist Paul, of whom one of his antagonists could after-
wards say, ' ' Our beloved brother Paul. ' ' But controversy or

18 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

no controversy, let us contend earnestly for the faith. Let no
man under the glamour of a proposed union, or of any other
thing, yield to expediency any part of ^Yhat he believes to be vital
and saving truth. And here it is well to call attention to the
fact that while the divisions of the Protestant church have been
widened by human prejudices and the sectarian spirit, yet each
denomination has borne its own special witness to the cause of
truth. Under the providence of God it is undoubtedly true that
each great division of Protestantism has conserved some distinct-
ive truth of revelation, or some great ethical principle to a degree
that would not have been possible had the church grown up
under one huge organization. And even those denominations
that have drifted away from evangelical moorings have, by their
very errors, brought the truth into clearer light. We should
remember these things when we hear the wholesale condemna-
tion of denominational differences which is so common when-
ever union is being discussed. A man has a right to his private
judgment, and each denomination or party has a right to stand
as a separate organization upon the great principles of its
historic faith. INIutual recognition of this right is the first step
toward real Christian unity. Respect for the honesty and
sincerity of the man who refuses from conviction to yield to our
way of thinking, and love for him in spite of those differences,
is a Christian unity that is stronger than a visible union
that compromises with convictions. These are truisms no
doubt, but they are truisms that need to be reiterated at this
time.

3. There is an earnest class of men, a large number, who
firmly and honestly hold to the form of truth peculiar to their
several names or denominations. Among these truths they
hold to the communion of the saints, the saints of all names and
denominations, the fellowship of which David sang, of which
Paul wrote, for which Jesus our Lord prayed. By this fellow-
ship they understand a unity that should manifest itself without a
visible union and may manifest itself by visible union. This class
of man should not be misunderstood. Sometimes they exhibit
a tenacity of belief that amounts almost to obstinacy. Some-
times they relegate the desirability of union to too insubordinate
a place. They receive various names from their more liberal
brethren. They are said to be "pig-headed," *'old fogey,"
*'moss backs." But these same men, to whom loyalty to con-
viction is a first principle, to whom truth is dearer than life, these

1906.] ** Union " from Two Standpoints. 19

men are of the stuff of which martyrs and reformers are made.
They are followers of Him who, in the face of expediency
and time-serving insinuations declared, **To this end was I
born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I might
bear witness unto the truth." These are the men who,
when they do come into a union movement, bring into it that
sinewy strength that will be needed in the day of conflict,
when it shall be called upon to bear ils witness to the power
of the truth upon which it builds. Witness the conflict in
Scotland now. For every work shall be made manifest,
every new movement shall be tried by fire of what sort it is.
So it behoves those who favor union of any sort, as wise master-
builders, to see to it that the new union has the foundation
of eternal truth, without suppression and without compromise.
But some one says, ''When there are so many opinions
how are you to know what essential truth is ? " We reply,
God through the ages has had a repository of truth within
His church. And the statement of that truth, in its pure
and saving form, has come through the minds and hearts of
men whose' conviction of the truth was an over-mastering force
in their lives. "But such men do not always see the truth
alike." No, they do not, but in God's time they will. . Many
are seeing face to face to-day who were wide apart some years

And so it comes to pass that i//e bring hiq about of unity
within the church is the zzwrk of the Spirit of God, " The unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace." There is a perfect church
up yonder, the general assembly of the firstborn which are
written in heaven. In it are men who held to many differ-
ent creeds while here upon earth, who subscribed to many
divers opinions. Up there, however, they are gathered in perfect
harmony, the glorified church. The church militant is tending
toward the church triumphant, and the Spirit who abides within
her is leading her ever nearer and nearer to the attainment of
that perfect union of which the perfect church alone furnishes
the pattern. He is taking away the misunderstandings and
prejudices which too often have been the real bars to closer
fellowship. He is bringing men to see face to face, whose
distorted vision made them to disagree heretofore. A review of
the work of the Holy Spirit, in binding together the different
branches of the church, will make one of the marvellous chapters
of modern church history. And in many places where unhappy

20 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

divisions still exist the leaven is at work, though the time for
fruit is not yet come.

Therefore let us beware of whoop and hurrah in union
movements. Let us refrain from trying to force that for which
the occasion is not ripe. I^et us beware of making out programs
of our own for the Lord to follow. Rather let us reverently
and prayerfully follow the leading of the Spirit. It is His
work, and He will point the way. And how may we follow His
lead ? By holding loyalty to conviction as a first principle.
By speaking the truth in love. By cultivating the spirit of
Christian fellowship whenever and wherever possible. By
meeting with an open mind all suggestions that are made to us,
looking to the welfare of the whole church. By heeding our
Master's example va praying for the unity of the people of God.
By honoring the agency of the Holy Spirit, who is the one
Sanctifier and Comforter of us all.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is unity. And where
the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. A unity that allows
a spirit of liberty, not a spirit of bondage, is a true unity. And
so it follows that union or similarity is not always the highest
form of unity. But, on the other hand, the duty of a visible
union may be laid upon us " that the world may know.'* " By
this shall all men know that ye are My disciples." There
is an outward badge that it is the duty of all to wear. ' ' I
exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the same mind
in the Lord." Such an outward union should always be
sought : —

(i.) When it serves the cause of truth.

(2.) When it is for the good name of the church in her
witness before the world.

(3.) When it can be accomplished without schism and with-
out sacrifice of essential truth.

Now, applying these principles that have been so inade-
quately stated to the present conditions in China, we believe
that the time has come when the divisions of decades should
be healed and the Protestant church present a united front to
the nation she is trying to win by the use of uniform terms in
literature for God and the Holy Spirit.

If any believe that a great and vital principle is at stake
in refusing to accept the terms which are proposed as a basis
of union, this appeal will be ineffective. But is a vital principle
at stake? Is not the term to which we adhere rather a matter

1906.] "Union" from Two Standpoints. 21

of preference than of principle ? We may yield onr preferences,
though we die for our principles. If one objects to Shen and
advocates Shangti, we can point to the fact that Shangti is
part of the inscription above multitudes of heathen temples.
If another objects to Shangti and advocates Shen, we can remind
him that Shen refers to the spirits of the dead and to animal
spirits, as well as to the polytheism of the supernatural world.
If one objects to Sheng Ling, and will not give up Sheng
Shen, we can remind him of a tablet in Confuciau temples
where Sheng Shen is the term applied to that departed sage.
Now, amid all of this confusion there are these outstandinor
facts : —

A. None of the terms proposed — Shangti for God, Sheng
Ling for Holy Spirit, Chen Shen for the True God — are with-
out objections. They are all polluted. They reek with heathen
suggestions.

B. Each of these terms can be sanctified by Christian
usage — yes, verily, has been sanctified. There are men of China
who reverently love with all their hearts one whom they know
as Shangti, the Lord of heaven and earth. And they preach
Shangti to others to the conversion of their souls. There
are men and women who are under the influence of a holy
one whom they know as Sheng Ling, and their words are
accompanied with the unction which Sheng Ling gives. The
heathen associations of these words will pass away, while the
Christian thought and sentiment which lingers about them
will make them, like the truth which they convey, live and
abide forever.

C. It is only proposed to extend the use of these terms
to all, instead of, as at present, to a part of the Christian literature
published ; every man being free to use that to which he has
been accustomed, if he so desire, in his spoken messages.

D. The wide adoption of these union terms will be a boon
to the Bible and Tract Societies, \^^ill stop controversy, and will
be another testimony to the world of the spirit of unity that
exists in the Protestant church in China.

E. Circumstances seem to be pointing this way. Con-
cessions and propositions in this direction have been made in
the most unexpected way, and this spirit of unity seems to have
pervaded all at once all parts of the church in China. We
reverently believe it is the leading of the Spirit of God.

22 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

11.
Some Perils and Difficulties.

BY A CAUTIOUS SYMPATHISER.

WHEN the world is all rushing in one direction, bitten
with some new notion, and blind for the time to
other more useful truths, it requires some courage
to protest, and one feels like a voice crying in the wilderness.

At present there is what some would irreverently call a
*' craze " for union, and in spite of the Scottish church case and
the separation of Norway from Sweden, we are told that the
whole trend of the " time-spirit " is towards union.

Speaking of union generally it cannot be regarded as an
absolute good ; it may be very good, it may be very evil. A
marriage is a sacred union, but many a marriage had better
have never taken place. It is only when temperaments, aims,
affections prompt the union that it is likely to be a blessing ;
and even then the permanence of the blessing cannot be
guaranteed. On the other hand, since God confounded their
language and scattered men from Babel, separation, disruption,
protest and dissent have played a most important part in the
world's and the churches' progress. Nations work out their
own separate destinies, strengthening themselves with alliances
when necessary, but entering into union with other peoples only
when conquered, or when realising that their existence depends
on it. Socially our progress has coincided with the growth
of individualism and the church has existed and increased by
its power of revolt against, and separation from, the old ; its
reformations have mostly been in the form of separations.

The reason for this is not an evil spirit of disunion ; we do
not separate because we have no mutual love, but very often
because we can do our best work when we are working in our
own way untrammelled by the prejudices or fears of some other
person. And this is because God has gifted us differently.
We see it in individuals, in races, in religious denomina-
tions. The Scottish nation is united with England — it was a
political necessity ; but Scotchmen do their peculiar work in the
world by virtue of their retaining all the characteristics, that is,
the peculiar gifts of Scotchmen. So with every race ; it docs its
best work when free to express its own genius, and any union is
likely to injure it.

1906.] "Union" from Two Standpoints. 23

111 the religious world no doubt union, if possible, would
have meant a great economy in time and strength and money.
But, on the other hand, each denomination having a peculiar
portion of truth to defend or preach, has thrown the greater
earnestness into its work, because of the valuable and proper
spirit of emulation. It is quite conceivable that one large
united church in the West would not have done so much for
China as has been done by the many denominations.

Some of the perils of union are obvious. There must
necessarily be compromise, and the compromise is on those
points where each side feels strongly. This may lead to loss
of enthusiasm, to secret dissatisfaction, to quenching of convic-
tions, to hypocrisy even. The advantages of union would have
to be very remarkable indeed to compensate us for giving up
what probably gave our work its peculiar value. A little
enthusiasm quenched, a little peculiar genius repressed, is not to
be balanced by some money saved or some trouble spared, but
many difficulties and dangers are only found out by experience.
In unions of educational work, for instance, it will probably be
found that real union will be almost impossible if the nation-
alities are different. The American, British and German
ideals, standards, aims and methods differ so widely, and are of
course so firmly held in each case, that to give way is not
right, except on immaterial points, but union on immaterial
points is not union. There is of course another way where
the ideals on one side are given up, but this is subjection,
not union.

Besides loss entailed and practical difficulties encountered,
there are other objections which may be raised to too much
union. For instance, it is often said that our lack of union is
a stumbling block to the Chinese. It may be very well doubted
whether such intelligent criticism is ever received from
Chinese Christians, except w^here the missionary has confided his
feelings on the matter to his evangelists, or unless there have been
indiscreet utterances in the native Christian press. The Chinese
are distinctly clannish, and though they might be scandalised if
they saw disunion between followers of the same Lord, they
are hardly likely to stumble at minor differences which result
in various sects and missions. And in any case, while the
native church is still so weak and backward, doing so little for
itself, and so contentedly leaning on outside support, it w^ould
ill become it to criticise and instruct its instructors. But as

24 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

a matter of fact the cry for union does not come from the
Chinese church, and the union or unions contemplated are
really unions of the missions, prompted by missionaries. An
important union was lately effected in which, probably from
first to last, no Chinese opinion was taken. This in itself very
much affects our sympathy with the cry for union, and consti-
tutes an objection to the present pushing of the matter.

It would again be interesting to find out to what extent
those most directly affected by union desire it. Will two school-
masters, for example, whose hearts are in their work, approach
one another with the idea of uniting their special work ? Will
not such a union rather be imposed on them by managers,
directors and committees who are less directly concerned ?

Probably many are led away by misunderstanding the
term used. That mutual love, forbearance and help, that a
union of hearts and a common general aim are necessary to
our work goes without saying, and do we not possess these ?
There is union more or less complete already ; it will be
made perfect by more love, not by treaties and rules. Spiritual
power will w^arm hearts till a combination is produced, and we
are one in all good works ; committees and councils will end in
mere mechanical unions with no necessary increase of life and
power. Union, such as is now being pushed, is not strength.
It means the giving up of much that is characteristic, and this
involves loss of power ; it means inevitably a great deal of
strength devoted simply to the overcoming of friction within the
machine ; it means very often the destruction of the true union
that did exist and the substitution of a dull but economical
uniformity.

As individuals and as missions we have our peculiar talents,
more or fewer. Let each trade faithfully with what has been
committed to him — a limited liability company is not necessary.
True union consists in individual liberty for each to do the best
he can with his peculiar gifts, while he sympathises with and
encourages all others who, like him, are working in their own
way for the common end. Let us not forget that diversities of
gifts, and therefore of our methods of using and cultiwiting
them, are divinely ordained, and do not prevent our still being
one body. ''There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ;
there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord ;
there are diversities of operations, but the same God that worketh
all in all.'^ " For the body is not one member, but many."

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 25

Bishop Westcott on Missions.
III.

BY REV. ARNOLD FOSTER, h. M. S., WUCHANG.

*' We must be inspired with a real sense of the grandeur of the cause for
which we work, it is not sufficient that we should note the course of events
and meet changed circumstances by improvised expedients. We must labour
from the first to gain a clear perception of the end towards which we are
moving. We must know no rest till our Faith is embodied in our conceptions
of national and religious policy. So shall we gain energy for our little labours
by the vision of the magnificent issue to which they contribute."

THE present paper, with the exception of these first few
lines of introduction, contains only a reprint of a sermon
on T/ie Universities in Relation to Missionajy Work^
preached by Dr. Westcott before the University of Cambridge,
where he was at the time Regius Professor of Divinity. It can
hardly be necessary to point out to readers who are either not
Englishmen or not members of the Established Church in Eng-
land that he was especially addressing himself to hearers who
were both. If he assumes that his hearers, by reason of their
position, had responsibilities that were peculiarly their own and
gifts and opportunities differing from those enjoyed by others,
this is only asserting a principle which he was ever equally
ready to apply to members of other nations, viz., the principle
that manifold gifts for service have been differently bestowed on
different men by the providence of God, Who is no respecter of
persons. ''We have failed," he says elsewhere, "to strive
resolutely to understand other nations, their experiences, their
offices for the race, their ideals which may rightly be widely
different from our own. And again we have failed to recognize
the peculiar obligations which are laid upon our own nation by
our history, by our discipline, by our opportunities. We have
forgotten that we are not set to offer a standard to others, but to
fulfil a ministry towards them."

The sermon here given* was delivered on the second Sun-
day in Advent, 1872, from the text "In Him shall the Gentiles
trust" (Rom. xv. 14 , After referring to some subjects touched
on in a previous sermon on The Universities in Relation to
Religions Life at Ho7ne^ Dn Westcott says : —

"To-day I wish to direct your attention to one section of
that magnificent work which lies before the English people and
the English church ; and of this to that one aspect only which

* Religious Office of the Universities, Macraillan. See Pp. 19, 26-44.

26 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

belongs peculiarly to ourselves. I wish to suggest to you some
considerations on missionary work in connexion with university
work ; to point out, as I may, how we can with God's blessing
supply something which is yet wanting in the teaching of the
nations ; how we can offer of the ripest fruits of our labours that
which may become the seed of a distant harvest . . .

We are all familiar with the commonplaces on English
dominion, and commerce, and energy. But the facts which
they express are symptoms only and signs of that which may
be. If we interpret them aright they point to the possibilities
of a spiritual office of the nation as yet unfulfilled. It may be
that times of disaster and loss will be required to dissipate the
crushing weight of mere material prosperity, before we can enter
upon our higher apostleship. It may be that our accumulated
wealth and power will be consecrated as instruments of divine
service. The future alone can show what discipline will make
our ministry efficient. But this at least is sure, and this may
supply the inspiration of our lives, that by our history, by our
constitution, by our catholicity, God has fitted us as a people and
as a church to be the missionaries of the world, to be the inter-
preters of the East to the West, and of the West to the East, to
be the witnesses and heralds of truth recognized as manifold.

It is unnecessary for me to indicate here the grounds on
which this conclusion rests. They lie open in our annals. And
if our endowments are unquestionable, it seems to be no less
certain that the proper time has come for employing them. The
shaking of the Eastern peoples is, as we believe, the prelude to
their offerings of devotion. The rapid spread of the Brahmo-
Somaj, the energy of the Mohammedan revival, show that the
strivings after the knowledge and the service of God are growing
intenser in strange religions. And the fault must be ours if
any who will to do the will of God, who contend passionately
for a closer relationship with Him, who long to transfigure their
life by their belief, do not find in the Gospel of the Incarnate
Word the satisfaction of their longing, the realization of their
hope. The sentence stands written for our abiding comfort:
*'In Him shall the Gentiles trust."

How then can the Universities, how can Cambridge, take
a due part in that which as a people we have to do ?

It would be unnatural for anyone who has been allowed to
work with the help of every appliance and every encouragement,
to say one word which might appear to detract from the honour

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 27

of those who have entered on untried fields ; who have willingly
offered, often alone and unsupported, all they were and all they
had, for the cause which they had undertaken. Still the
experience and the difficulties of these apostolic pioneers of
faith enable us, who look on their labour from a distance, to
draw some lessons for the future from their delays and disap-
pointments ; and if we can profit even by their failures, they will
not have toiled to no purpose. For it may be doubted whether
life has any greater reward than this, that we should know that
those who come after us will find the path of truth a little more
plain, the rule of action a little less tangled, than we ourselves
have found it. The men who made that living way on the
breach at Badajos did not die in vain.

From this point of view we may, without ingratitude, notice
some defects in our missionary work which academic co-opera-
tion would tend to remove. There is need in it, as I am forced
to think, of a clearer understanding of the old faiths and of a
livelier sympathy with the peculiar religious instincts to which
they correspond. There is need of a more distinct apprehension
of the social power of Christianity. There is need of a more
systematic effort to evoke rather than to mould native pastorates.
In all these respects, I cannot but believe that the Universities
are able to take a characteristic share in foreign evangelization.
And those who love Cambridge best — those who feel with the
most thankful confidence that power has been entrusted to her to
meet the religious wants of our own age — must be ready to
labour that her peculiar influence may reach throughout our
empire. Something will be gained if each solitary minister of
Christ on the outskirts of civilization may be sure that he can
command all the resources of counsel and knowledge which
belong to this great Christian body.

(i). Our missionary teaching hitherto has been, I say, for
the most part too defined and traditional. We have inherited a
priceless treasure of elaborated doctrine which represents the
experience, the thought, the character of the West. We feel,
more or less distinctly, how every detail of it is a pledge that
Christianity answers to our special wants. We know that it has
grown with our growth, even if we are tempted to overlook the
present energy of the Divine Spirit by Whom it has been shaped.
Our first impulse therefore is to offer exactly that which corres-
ponds with our own position to men who are wholly different
from us in history, in faculties, in circumstances of life. But in

28 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

so doing we really contend, as far as lies in us, to impoverish
the resources of humanity. We do dishonour to the infinite
fulness of the Gospel. We forget that the value of words
changes according to the conditions under which they are used ;
that the proportionate value of doctrines, if I may speak so, varies
with the vicissitudes of the spiritual state ; that oiir common
manhood, which Christ redeemed, presents only in separate
parts the whole richness of its capacities and wealth ; that our
essential creed is a creed of facts which speak at once in the
fulness of life to every form of life. The different characteristics
of Greek and Latin and Teutonic Christianity are a common-
place with theological students ; and can we doubt that India,
the living epitome of the races, the revolutions and the creeds
of the East, is capable of adding some new element to the
completer apprehension of the faith ? Can we doubt that the
intellectual and spiritual sympathies of its leading peoples are
with Syria and Greece, rather than with Rome and Germany ;
that they will move with greater freedom and greater power
along the lines traced out by Origen and Athanasius, than along
those of Augustine and Anselm which we have followed ?
Orientals, in a word, must be guided backwards that their
progress may be more sure and more fruitful. If we could
establish the loftiest type of Western Christianity in India as
the paramount religion, and it is, I believe, wholly impossible
to do so, our triumph would be in the end a loss to Christendom.
We should lose the very lessons which in the providence of
God India has to teach us. We should lose the assurance of
true victory which comes from the preservation and develop-
ment of every power in the new citizens of the Kingkom of
Christ. We should loss the integrity, the vitality, the infinity
of our faith in the proud assertion of our own supremacy.

If then England is to aim at this highest form of
mission-work, this dynamical realization, so to speak, of the
hope of the nations, the Universities can fairly claim the privilege
of directing the effort. Here we are bound to co-ordinate all
the methods and results of knowledge. We are bound to study
the course of revelation in its manifold stages and to place each
fresh gift of God in its due relation to those who received it. To
■QS Theology appears of necessity as the crown of all the sciences,
the one light which animates them with one life. To us the
Incarnation, the Passion, the Resurrection of Christ, naturally
appear in connexion with the aspirations, the bold guesses, the

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 29

pathetic confessions of every age. What more is needed ? We
have among us teachers ready to contribute their manifold ex-
perience. We have students fitted to embody in a thousand
different ways the great fact that the missionary work is the
communication of a life and not of a system. We look round,
and the prayer of the Psalmist becomes our own: " O Lord^
how long f . . . Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants^ and
Thy glory nnto their children^

(2). But again our missionary teaching has been too in-
dividual. It has been generally isolated in its range and in its
application. Yet Christianity, like man himself, is essentially
social. We are charged to proclaim a kingdom and not a
philosophic creed ; not Truth in the abstract, but Tr2Uh in
Jesus ; Truth realized in Him, who is indeed man no less than
God. Our message ought to go forth from a society and call
men to a society. Wherever an English community exists,
there is a true missionary power for good or evil. From this,
and through this, access is opened, not to one class only, but to
all. The complete embodiment of the Christian life offers a
vantage ground for the employ of every gift in the divine service.
A representative Church, strong with a mature life, is able to
shelter without overpowering the young Church which grows
up about it. The principle holds good everywhere; but in
India, where religion and life are one, our hope of permanent
evangelization must lie in offering Christianity in that form in
which it can cope with the deepest evils of the State. The
Church alone can overcome caste by substituting the idea
of divine brotherhood for the isolation of supposed spiritual
descent: the reality for the counterfeit. Overpowering as the
task may seem, it ought to be faced. We must conquer India
by meeting, and not by shunning, that which is strongest in it.

The question has an ecclesiastical significance of which I do
not now speak. At present I am concerned only with the
social power of the Christian organization ; and in this respect
the power of our common life here may do far more for mission-
ary enterprise than it has yet done. Let the great questions of
colonial life once take their place among us ; let them be con-
sidered fairly in the light of our faith ; let it become habitual
to us to regard all the interests and all the charges of duty as
converging to one end ; and our missionaries will find that they
have allies among our sons more powerful than themselves. Our
faith will be seen everywhere to be a life, and not a system — a

30 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

life embracing every product of thought, and quickening every
form of social existence. This is, no doubt, a very lofty and
comprehensive ideal of missionary work, but it is one which
ought to be kept resolutely in view. There is a constant temp-
tation, which we all feel in one way or other, to avoid the
hardest forms of the problems which are offered to us. We are
always looking for docile hearers and for direct influence. After
a first disappointment we are inclined to stigmatize as pride
what may be after all the stern self-distrust of a sad heart.
There is need of something more than the personal message of
the individual preacher. And even when movement seems to
be slowest the power of Christ, embodied in His Church, will
bring patience and sustain strength.

(3). "Hitherto, so far as I know — and this is my third
point — our missionary teaching has failed also in this : it has
been not only secondary and individual, it has been also dena-
tionalizing. It is very difficult for us to appreciate the over-
powering effect of a dominant class in enforcing their own
beliefs. It is ever more difficult to apprehend the relative
shape which these beliefs assume in the minds of alien races.
If then, as I have said, we are ourselves in due time to draw
from India — to speak only of that empire which God has
committed to our charge — fresh instructions in the mysteries
of the divine counsels ; if we are to contribute to the establish-
ment of an organization of the Faith which shall preserve and
not destroy all that is precious in the past experience of the
native peoples ; if we are to proclaim in its fulness a Gospel
which is universal and not Western, we must keep ourselves
and our modes of thought studiously in the background. We
must aim at something far greater than collecting scattered
congregations round English clergy who may reflect to our eye
faint and imperfect images of ourselves. We must watch care-
fully lest Christianity should be regarded simply as the religion
of the stronger or the wiser. We must take to heart the lessons
of the first age, lest we unconsciously repeat the fatal mistake of
the early Judaizers, and offer as permanent that which is.
accidental and transitory. We must adopt every mode of in-
fluence which can be hallowed to the service of the Faith — the
ascetism — the endurance — the learning which are indigenous
to the country. We must follow the religious instincts and
satisfy the religious wants of Hindu and Mohammedan through
the experience of men from among themselves. We can in

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 31

some degree, as the Spirit helps up, teach the teachers, but we
cannot teach the people. The hope of a Christian India lies in
the gathering together of men who shall be, to quote words of
a native journal, " as thoroughly Hindu as they are Christian,
and more intensely national than those who are not Christian. "
The schools through which they shall be trained may be in-
spired by learning, like that of Clement, or by labour and dis-
cipline, like that of Benedict, but they must be such as to bring
the Faith into living harmony with the characteristics of the
race. And if the Universities can, as I have tried to show,
contribute to the efficiency of missionaries by making the
results of wide and ripe study bear upon the methods and sub-
stance of missionary teaching — if they can reinforce the ranks
of our trueevangelists by bringing the problems of colonial life
within the scope of their studies, they have in schools for a
native pastorate an object of special sympathy. If any one
work belongs more properly than another to our '* ancient and
religious" bodies, it is that they should kindle elsewhere the
light by which they live ; that they should be diffusive sources
of spiritual vitality ; that they should foster and quicken all
that the past offers in every place for present use. And there
is nothing that I should desire more earnestly for Cambridge ;
there is nothing, as I think, which would give more vigorous
intensity to her national influence ; nothing which would tend
more to preserve and deepen that grandeur which ought to be
the characteristic of her teaching, than that some school of
Indian students should be formed and sustained to witness to
her devotion and to represent her spirit in the East. We
should gain by being brought into closer connexion with men
among whom the "struggling, hard-working, hard-living
scholar" is the noble ideal of the race; they would gain by
feeling that they were called into actual fellowship with a
centre of the religious thought of England.

To organise such a school, appears to me to be the true
University mission. For it is, in some degree, to offer to God
the first-fruits of the best whick He has given us. There is
other work to be done abroad, but the Universities should
aspire to that which is most difficult ; to that which calls for their
peculiar gifts ; to that which may consecrate, so to speak, their
proper work at home. And is it too much to hope that we
may yet see on the Indus, or the Ganges, some new Alex-
andria ?

52 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

I know how many appeals have been made lately to the
generosity of our university. I have no desire to divert into
new channels alms and energies which are already offered to
mission work. Yet, at this season, I cannot but hope that
there may be some among us to whom further sacrifice may not
be ungrateful ; some, who knowing what this place has been
and is to themselves, can imagine no higher privilege than to
communicate, as they are able, the fulness of her life to our
Indian Empire ; some who feel that the great and ancient
schools of our English pastorate are essentially incomplete till
they are represented elsewhere by schools through which they
shall contribute their resources to the solution of new problems
of religious life.

The conversion of Asia is the last and greatest problem
which has been reserved for the Church of Christ. It is
through India that the East can be approached. It is to
England that the evangelizing of India has been entrusted by
the providence of God. It is by the concentration of all that
is ripest in thought, of all that is wisest in counsel, of all that
is intensest in devotion, of all that is purest in self-sacrifice,
that the work must be achieved. Can we then fail to see what
is required of us ? Can we then fail to recognise what we have
to give ?

However unworthy I am to plead such a cause I must speak
out of the fulness of my heart. I must ask, not less through
the love which I bear to Cambridge, than through the sense
which I have of the office of England for your thoughts, for
your offerings, for your prayers, iu furtherance of such a plan as
I have indicated. Others will point out far bettef than I can
how it may be realized. It does not, as far as I can judge, call
for anything beyond our means. And this Advent will have
come to us with a corporate blessing if through the teaching
of the season our University shall be guided in such a way,
to take her place in the front of Missionary work. So we shall
be better enabled to feel ourselves, and to confess to the world,
that all that is noble, and pure, and true is tributary to our Faith ;
we shall see farther than we have yet seen into the distant
glories of the mystery of redemption ; we shall gain energy
from the impulse of movement, and strength from the assurance
of victory ; we shall be cheered with an access of life from the
overflow of the life which we have given ; we shall know, and
not believe only, that the Spirit of God is with us.

1906.] The American Bible Society and the War. - 33

The need is urgent, but it is inspiring. The time is short,
but spiritual progress is not gauged by temporal measures.
The work is arduous, but our strength is the strength of the
Incarnation.

The day is at hand ; and therefore a fresh glory of Christ
shall follow our time of waiting ; 171 Hi^n shall the natio7is trust;
and their hope shall not be unaccomplished.

The American Bible Society and the War.

BY REV. H. LOOMIS, A.B.S., YOKOHAMA.

AMONG the various agencies for ministering to the welfare
of the Japanese soldiers during the recent war the
American Bible Society has endeavored to have a share.
Kxperience has shown that the condition of the mind has a very
important influence upon the body, and whatever ministers to
the spiritual as well as the bodily comfort of the soldiers adds
much to their prospect of recovery from wounds, or sickness,
and also to their efficiency in the service.

For the supply of the men in the army and navy special
editions of the Scriptures and tracts have been published, and
with the approval of the officials, as well as their assistance,
distributed to the soldiers on their way to the front, in comfort
bags, sent to the army in the field, to the Y. M. C. A. repre-
sentatives in Manchuria, to the sick and wounded in the
hospitals and on board of the transports, and to the various ships
in the navy.

Up to the present date (Dec. 20th) there has been distributed
in this way 773 Bibles, 16,965 Testaments, 310,650 Portions or
Gospels and 206,751 tracts, at the cost of 5,285 Yen (not
including freight and postage). For a few of these a part of the
cost was received, but the most of them have been donated.

That these contributions have been appreciated and useful
is evident from the many testimonials that have been received
to that effect. Among such expressions of gratitude and
assurances of benefit derived we select a few samples.

A soldier, who had lost both of his eyes at the siege of Port
Arthur, was so much disheartened at first that he resolved to
commit suicide, but when he had received a copy of one of the
Gospels in raised characters for the use of the blind and learned
what it contained, he said: *'I can hardly take time to sleep; it
is so fascinating. Although I have lost the eyes of my flesh I
have been more than compensated by being given the eyes
of faith, which enable me to see the true God, by whose
blessing I have obtained this joy and peace of heart." One

34 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

who has visited the hospital writes: "He is the happiest
man in the building and a comfort and help to every man in
the ward."

Of another man with a slashed face a missionary writes :
"Some time ago this man wrote of three men who would like
to have Testaments at once. We sent them by a special mes-
senger, and afterwards had a letter from one of the men, who
said it reached him just before he started for the Hokkaido.
When he had it in his hands he wept for joy to think that
the treasure was really his. He will soon be off to the front
again and will carry the Testament with him as his most valued
posession."

Another missionary writes : ' ' Thank you for the precious
Gospels. 'Have you any Testaments?' is the one question, and
' W<9,' will not satisfy. ' How can I get one ? Where ? When ?
Will you come to-morrow ? ' It is now just a week since my
first visit to the hospital since vacation, and I have had personal
requests and have put into the hands of soldiers more than a
hundred Testaments."

Another missionary writes: "Many letters and cards are
coming from those who have gone to their homes and seem to
have found great comfort in the Bible. One man writes : 'Truly
it is the light of life.' One man, who has entirely recovered
and gone back to fight again, called, while en route to the battle-
field, to thank us for the Bible, saying : ' I have had a pocket
made expressly for it, and I think I will be able to keep it, and
it is better than all else.' "

One of the Japanese war correspondents at the front
writes: "I was one day visiting the Commander, when word
came that the comfort bags had arrived, and he was expected to
go and get a portion for his company. It was a sight to see the
big men hold out their eager hands to draw the lots, and then
cry out with joy when they opened their bags and saw what
they contained. They looked so happy and child-like that it
made me feel as if I was myself in heaven. These bags were
filled with useful articles and interesting literature for their
spiritual need. I can safely say that nothing can surpass these
little bags in giving cheer and comfort to those who are away
from home and their loved ones." (In each one was a Gospel
and tract presented by the American Bible Society. Nearly
40,000 of each were thus distributed.)

One of the soldiers writes : " I am a soldier at the front. It
was on the 12th of July that the comfort bags were distributed.
On opening mine I found, among many useful articles, one thing
which we could otherwise never have procured. By this I
mean the Gospel sent by you, and I write to thank you
especially for this book. To read these books is our greatest
pleasure ; far exceeding all other kinds of happiness."

1906.] The American Bible Society and the War. 35

Another soldier writes: "You can hardly imagine the joy
we have experienced on the receipt of the comfort bags. We
especially thank you for the Gospels they contain. We are now
exposed to danger, and there is nothing so good as the Bible for
us, for by reading it we acquaint ourselves with the salvation it
offers, and it gives us more comfort and courage than a million
reinforcements."

A surgeon (not a Christian) who was for some time in
charge of a hospital at the front makes this statement : " While
caring for their bodies I have tried to have the patients read
religious, and especially. Christian books, and we were pleased
to see that some of them died in perfect peace, confiding
themselves entirely to God, and still more of them returned to
the ranks perfectly cured, for their belief in divine help, in
addition to their treatment, encouraged their hearts and hastened
their recovery."

Besides the gifts of Scriptures and tracts 4,500 picture
albums, or scrap books, have been made and widely distributed.
These have given great pleasure and comfort to the sick and
wounded on the transports and in the hospitals.

Concerning the distribution of the albums in the hospitals
one of the missionaries writes: "I took the albums to the
hospital and wish you could have seen the men gather round ;
wardens and all looking at them. When I told them I could
give them but one in a room they looked disappointed, and as
many as could get would go to the one wko had the book and
eagerly wait his turn to get it."

Another missionary writes: " Yesterday I took the albums
and gave three to the head nurse of the recreation room for the
sick men there. He was delighted with them and said he
would be glad to take them round. I took the others to the next
ward. The nurses for that ward w€re greatly pleased, and one
of the nurses from the adjoining ward begged for one for his
men. I said I would bring others later, but he just carried one
ofif with him, as he did not want to wait so long. They are
greatly appreciated, indeed."

In a letter just received from a soldier in the hospital of
Osaka he writes: "You have sent us a good many beautiful
albums, which are exquisitely colored, and for which I hereby
tender hearty thanks. This warm sympathy given to us, who
are of a: diflferent race, is an expression of the same kindness that
your people have invariably bestowed upon us during the past
fifty years in leading us to civilization. I am only a private who
was wounded at the battle of Mukden and am now being taken
care of in this hospital. This building was constructed as a
barrack and is entirely destitute of ornament of any kind. How
great was the comfort I received from the albums sent by you.
I wept, indeed, overcome by the feeling of gratitude. ' '

36 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

In conclusion I wish to say that it has been a great pleasure to
contribute in any degree to the welfare and comfort of these brave
men who are so patient and brave in the midst of their sufferings,
as well as on the field of battle. To witness their joy and gratitude
has been a rich return for all that has been done in their behalf.

One interesting and encouraging fact is that at the same
time those donations were being made to the men in the army
and navy the ordinary sales and circulation have not only
continued but steadily increased. The sales during the quarter
ending September 30th, 1905, were double those of 1904 ; and
the total sales from January, 1904, to July 30th, 1905 (covering
almost the same period as the war), amounted to 13,822 yen, and
the number of volumes was as follows : Bibles, 6,803; Testaments,
44,507 ; Portions, 52,302, or a total of 120,083 volumes.

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor.

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

The Educational Outlook in Wuchang.

I.

BY REV. ARNOLD FOSTER.

I HAVE several times been asked to publish some account
of the educational system that has recently been organized
by the Chinese in the city of Wuchang. It would be
more correct to speak of the system that is being organized,
for much that is being done at present is necessarily of a
tentative character. The Chinese, like other people, must
learn by experience, and however eager their rulers may be to
evolve at once a full-blown, coherent and complete system that
will meet all the needs of the case they probably realize that
it is utterly impossible for them to do so. Already many modi-
fications of original plans have, I am told, been made and others
are in contemplation. In the present paper I propose to give
a brief outline, which I believe will be found to be at least
approximately correct, of what is here and now being attempted
in the government schools and colleges. I should like in a
second paper to indicate what I think is the direction in which
Christian educators from Western lands should seek to supple-
ment what the Chinese themselves are doing.

1906.] Educational Department. 37

The scheme of instruction which I am now about to
describe as existing in Wuchang is virtually part of one that is
intended to apply to the whole empire, and in its inception
owes a great deal to the patriotic, disinterested and indefatiga-
ble labours in the cause of education of H. E. Chang Chih-
tung, the great viceroy of the Liang Hu provinces. In its
application to the provincial capital of Hupeh he had associated
with him, H. E. Tuan Fang, the former governor. The
carrying out of the whole scheme as it affects our city is under
the control of a Board of Commissioners, to which most if not
all of the provincial and city authorities belong, while united
with them in the practical working of the scheme are some
twenty or thirty Joint Commissioners, who are supposed to have
special or technical knowledge of educational matters. Some
of these gentlemen are overseers or teachers in one or another of
the colleges. In addition, however, to the government or
official schools there are a number of private or semi-private
institutions which profess to offer education of the same grade
as that given in some particular class of government school.
As these private institutions charge fees for what the govern-
ment school gives gratuitously, it is to be presumed that they
profess to give higher advantages than can be had in the public
institution.

It will be convenient to give some account of the principal
schools and colleges that are included in the official scheme in
an ascending order :

I. The primary or elementary schools, the ^ ^ >]> §^ ^.
These were first called into existence about two years ago by
a proclamation which at the time caused no little consternation
among the teachers of the old-fashioned private schools. It
ordained that all such schools should, after a certain date, be
closed, but stated that instead of them public day-schools,
distributed on a definite system throughout the city, would be
provided, and that in these, children would be taught at the
public expense. At the same time teachers of private schools
were bidden to present themselves to the educational authorities
for examination and were promised that those who were found
fit to teach, according to the new methods about to be adopted,
would either be appointed to government schools or would
themselves be sent to normal colleges, where they could be
trained for future employment ; Some in Wuchang or its suburbs
and others in outlying districts, or prefectural cities.

Into the new elementary public schools which were thus
commenced two years ago and are now well established, both
inside the walls of Wuchang and outside, children about seven
or eight years of age are gathered. It has been recognized
by the promoters of the new education that for the teaching of
very young children the method adopted in W^estern lands of

38 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

employing female teachers is a good one, but for the present no
such teachers are to be found in China, and that method is only
mentioned to show that it cannot at this time be adopted here.
The teaching given in the new elementary schools is all in
Chinese, but includes arithmetic, singing and drill. To find
accommodation for all the scholars brouq^ht under teachinof
by the new ordinance, many Buddhist temples were cleared
of their idols and were converted into school rooms. The
unceremonious way in which the idols were disposed of— ^some
being burnt, some thrown into the river and some cast out on
the street — suggested the thought of an outburst of agnostic
zeal and contempt for all strictly religious worship (as distinct
from mere adoration of the dead) rather than the thought
of any awakening zeal for religious reformation. Some ill-
instructed Christians chuckled at the sight ; wiser ones shook
their heads.

2. The next grade of schools of which I will speak is the
high school or ^ ^ >J> § ^. Of this class of school there
are now, I believe, five in Wuchang, each provided with accom-
modation for two hundred boarders. Boys are taken in at
about thirteen years of age, and are boarded, clothed and taught
at the public expense. When the full educational scheme is
in working order these schools will be chiefly filled with picked
scholars from the elementary schools, for the whole scheme
hangs together and is framed with a view to scholars passing up-
ward step by step from the earliest to the last and highest grades
of education. The term of instruction in this school is for four
years. The subjects taught are the Chinese classics, com-
position and history, arithmetic, geography, natural science,
physical exercise and singing, which is taught by Japanese
women. I went recently through one of these institutions and
was agreeably surprised to find how complete the equipment
appeared to be and to notice the order and system that seemed
to prevail. The teacher who courteously escorted us through
the buildings, showing us everything that was to be seen, told
us that the monthly expenditure on food, clothing and the up-
keep of the place was about $12.00 per head for each of the
pupils, or $2,400 for the whole school. This sum does not
include the teachers' salaries. Here as in all the schools much
importance is attached to the inculcation on the pupils of the
patriotic spirit. It is intended that some of the students from
these schools shall, on the completion of their studies, go abroad
to learn trades, either to Japan to learn to make paper, or to
Belgium to learn mining and engineering, or to Germany to
study military matters. Others will be sent to America.

Above the ^ ^ >]> i$ 5^ comes

3. The t^ i^ ^, or more correctly the ^- S 4* $ S- ^^
this there are two departments — the military and the civil or

1906.] Educational Department. 39

literar}^ As these two departments are carried on in separate
establishments they are practically two distinct schools. It is
a significant fact that at the present time more importance is
attached to the former than to the latter, but this is hardly to
be wondered at when one observes how side by side education
and military preparations, colleges and barracks are everywhere
being pressed forward together. Preparation for war is un-
questionably one main moving principle that underlies much of
the zeal that the Chinese are showing for a new kind of learning.
In a preface to the hand book of one of these schools we read :
"Our borders have been encroached on, our mines have been
wrested from us. The indemnity of to-day demands interest
to-morrow. [Foreigners] see us and either point at us as
savages, or ridicule us as half-civilized. Have we no feeling
of shame? But if we ou]y /{^e/ shame what then? That is of
no use, just as the utterly uninstructed violence of the Boxers
was of no use. Let our scholars remember, while they are at
school, that our schools are Chinese and that they are Chinese
scholars .... and when they are grown up, they will make
the world know that we stand first among the civilized races.
Will any one then still cheat and wrong us?'* The present
scholars in the ^- 55 4^ ^ ^ ^^^ mostly graduates under twenty-
four years of age. After a four years' course some students
from the military side will be sent as teachers into the camps,
others from the civil side as teachers into schools. More pro-
mising students will be drafted to Peking for a further course
ot four years' instruction in the capital, after which they will
receive official appointments.

4. Another school, which may be said to exist side by
side wnth the one last described, is the Agricultural College or
jS S? ^ ^- This has been in existence for some years. In
1900 it was under the charge of two highly trained and ex-
cellent men from America. After the completion of a three years'
engagement both resigned, finding that it was quite impossible
to accomplish anything under the limitations and restrictions
that w^ere placed upon them in all their efforts to do the work
for which they came to China. Their places were filled by
Japanese. Whether these new teachers have been able to
accomplish anything I cannot say.

5. The Normal College, qr Gi5 15 $ ^) is naturally an
institution to which under the new regime the Chinese attach
a very high importance. Here the teachers are being trained
who are to teach the pupils in all the lower grade schools. At
the present time there are four Normal Colleges in the city. Two
of these are established in part of what used to be the city
granaries. The whole building has been remodelled, so that
each school can accommodate one hundred and twenty students.
The teachers have taken a short course in Japan. The term

40 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

for which students will reside in the college will ultimately
be four years. In the meantime the need for teachers in
elementary schools is so great that the first students are passing
out after only a short period of residence. There seems at
present to be no satisfactory arrangements for practice schools
in which the art of teaching can be taught.

6. The School of Languages provides a five years' course
of instruction in English, Russian, German, French and
Japanese. There are one hundred and fifty pupils, of whom
thirty are told off for the study of each of the above mentioned
languages. The ages of pupils vary from fifteen to twenty
years. It is intended ultimately to have a foreigner in each
department to teach his own tongue. At present German and
Russian only are taught by foreigners ; French, English and
Japanese are taught by Chinamen.

The above mentioned schools are the principal ones at
present in working order. There are others both of a higher
and also of lower grades for special classes of the community,
concerning which I have failed to gather any very definite
information. Such are a college for expectant officials ; a school
for the study of political economy, which by a curious irony
is to be in part maintained by the proceeds of a lottery ; a
school for the maintenance of the ancient learning, the scholars
being all old men ; a school of medicine in which doctors are to
be trained for service in the camp ; an industrial school which
is to accommodate one hundred and twenty scholars ; and lastly
a school for adults, of the nature of a reformatory, the object
of which is to teach idlers and men of no occupation trades by
which they can maintain themselves and those dependent on
them.

One effect of the present educational movement has been
largely to transform the appearance of Wuchang. College and
school buildings have been going up in all parts of the city.
Large vacant spaces that two or three years ago were open to
the public have now been fenced in for college grounds. Book
shops abound, in which maps, diagrams and Western school
books, etc., are on sale. In one fine large depot maintained
by the viceroy all sorts of educational apparatus, from a slate
pencil to a mannikin, can be had at reduced rates. The
barracks, at least in the southern division of the city, are not
less prominent than the educational institutions. Here, too,
is a new educational element in modern Chinese life. In the
camps a new generation of men is being trained in habits of
prompt obedience and disciplined action, of which their fathers
knew nothing. Such a training given to the tens of thousands
of soldiers who are being subjected to it must gradually affect
the general life of the people at large. To-day the streets of
Wuchang swarm with soldiers and with students. Boys, young

1906.] Educational Department. 41

men, and men of middle age wearing uniforms that identify
them with the various schools and colleges, are everywhere to
be met with. Sunday is a holiday in all the schools, and on
that day the students are specially in evidence. A few come
to our services. Some of us are contemplating special services
for their benefit, and indeed something in this way has already
been attempted.

I do not see how any one can doubt that Wuchang is to
be in the future a centre of mighty influence in the empire
from a literary, scientific and educational point of view.
Situated like Hankow, which is on the opposite bank of our
great river, at what will be practically the very centre of China,
the spot where the great waterway from the west to the east
of the empire crosses the great trunk railway that will join
Peking on the north with Canton on the south, it cannot but
be that these two great cities will become amongst the most
important centres of human life and activity in China, if not the
most important. Each will certainly retain its own special charac-
ter. Hankow will be the centre of commerce and trade, the meet-
ing place of merchants and traders from all parts of the eighteen
provinces. Wuchang will be the centre of provincial govern-
ment. It may be that in days to come it will be even the capital
of the empire. It will always be to Hankow something of
what Edinburgh is to Glasgow, a centre of predominantly educa-
tional and literary importance as compared with a place that is
predominantly a centre of commerce and of money-making.
I can think of hardly any grander or more magnificent mission-
ary ambition that any one could entertain for China than this,
that by a sympathetic, united and carefully concerted effort the
various branches of the Christian church that are capable of realiz-
ing the importance and the essentially Christian character of such
an effort, should combine to lay at this time the foundations of
a Christian university in Wuchang on the lines of Oxford and
Cambridge. Separate colleges, each self-governing and each
with its own cherished traditions, represent in our ancient
English universities either special aspects of truth, or special
branches of learning, or special objects of training. Yet all
combine heartily in the work of one university, and the students
in each college strive together in honourable and wholesome
rivalry, both in honour-lists anc^ in competition for university
scholarships and prizes open to every student, as well as in boat-
races, games and athletic sports. Why should not such a
system work here? "Is it too much to hope," asked Bishop
Westcott from the Cambridge University pulpit more than
thirty years ago, ' ' that we may yet see on the Indus, or the Ganges,
some new x\lexandria ? " Is it too much to pray for, to labour
for and to believe — we may well ask — that our descendants and
the descendants of the present Chinese leaders of education in

42 The Chinese Recorder. [Januar}',

Wuchang may together see and together rejoice in a Chinese
Cambridge on the Yangtze ? I am convinced that the result
is attainable if at this critical period in Chinese history those
who believe in the vision and who see it from afar will together
strive to make it an accomplished fact. The influence of
such an effort would be to uplift the whole tone of China's
educational development and to give to China far more
than the most sanguine of her leaders in the present educa-
tional movement now dream of when they set before them, as
they are now doing, ideals that can never be realized, and
that would bring no lasting peace or prosperity to the empire,
even if they could.

Chinese Exclusion.

ACTION OF AMERICAN EDUCATIONISTS.

DURING the triennial session of the Educational Association
of China a meeting of the American members of the
Association was called for the purpose of discussing the
relations between America and China in the matter of the exclusion
of the Chinese from the United States.

The meeting was held in Shanghai on the 19th of May, 1905;
the attendance exceeding one hundred. In addition to the members
of the Association who attended there were also present the Hon.
James L. Rodgers, Consul-General at Shanghai, who had arrived
in China that morning ; the Hon. J. W. Davidson, the retiring
Acting Consul-General ; and the Hon. James B. Reynolds, of New
York.

Bishop Bashford, of the Methodist Church, who was voted to
the chair, announced the objects of the meeting to be: ist, to pass
resolutions petitioning the President and the Congress of the United
States to secure for Chinese students entering America better
treatment at the hands of officials at the several ports of entry ;
2nd, to appoint a committee to draw up a statement in regard
to this matter to accompany the resolutions; 3rd, to secure the
opinion of those present in regard to this subject. The third of
these objects was treated first, and it transpired that there was a
remarkably strong feeling, and a complete unanimity of opinion,
that the time had come for a vigorous protest to be made by those
who, by birth in the one and lives' labors in the other, have the
interests of both countries at heart, and especially are desirous that
there should exist a strong sentiment of mutual goodwill.

The following Resolution, proposed by Mr. Robert E. Lewis,
Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Shanghai, after having been care-
fully and thoroughly discussed, was passed unanimously : —

1906.] Educational Department. 45

RESOLUTION.

Whereas, the present treatment of Chinese students visiting America
for the purpose of study practically prohibits their entrance, actually deflects
large numbers of them to other countries, is positively damaging to American
commercial expansion and is likly to undermine the prestige which American
educators now enjoy in China, therefore be it

Resolved: That we, the American members of the Educational Associa-
tion of China, now assembled in its Fifth Triennial ^Meeting in Shanghai,
do respectfully and earnestly petition His Excellency the President and the
Congress of the United States to take such action as will insure the Chinese
students who desire to pursue their studies in America freedom from hin-
drances and insults at the Ports of Entry. Without wishing to dictate the
policy by which this result shall be attained, we would suggest that the
complete examination of prospective students should be made and passports
issued before departure from China, so that there shall be neither further
examination, delay nor uncertainty at the Port of Entry. Also, be it further

Resolved: That in view of the repeated instances of harsh and abusive
treatment which have been brought to our attention, we petition that what-
ever the terms of the Treaty existing between the Governments of the United
States and China may be, the officers of the United States at the Ports of
Entry, who inspect the papers of incoming students from China, be instructed
to receive such students with courtesy and consideration.

Upon motion of the Rt. Rev. F. R. Graves, Bishop of the
American Episcopal Mission, a committee was appointed to draw
up a letter to accompany the above Resolution, and to send both
the Resolution and the letter to the President of the United States,
the Secretaries of State and of the Treasury, and to every member of
both Houses of Congress.

After the transaction of one or two matters of routine business
the meeting then adjourned.

The committee appointed by the above meeting have since
completed the letter and forwarded it as directed. The copy to the
President was sent through H. E. W. W. Rockhill, Minister to
China. The following correspondence ensued : —

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PEKING, CHINA.

June 19th, 1905.
Rt. Rev. F. R. Graves,
Shanghai, China.

Dear Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
July I2th, enclosing a set of Resolutions adopted by the American members
of the Educational Association of China%t a meeting held in Shanghai, and
a letter accompanying the same, both of which you request that I forward
to the President.

In reply I beg to state that it will give me pleasure to comply with your
request, and I will transmit the Resolutions with their accompanying letter
to the President through the Department of State by the next mail.

I am,

Very respectfully yours,

(Signed) W. W. Rockhii^i,,

44 The Chinese Recorder. [January,

AMERICAN I.EGATION, PEKING, CHINA.

October 5th, 1905.
F. R. Graves, Esq.,

Chairman, American Members

of the Educational Association of China,

6A Seward Road.

Sir: In further reference to your letter of the 12th June last and to the
Resolutions forwarded to me with it for transmission to the President of
the United States, I have now the honor to enclose herewith a reply to the
Resolutions which were referred to the Department of Commerce and L,abor
bj- order of the President.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

(Signed) W. W. ROCKHILI..
Enclosure :

I Mr. Murray to Mr. Rockhill, August loth, 1905.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

Washington, August loth, 1905.
Hon. W. W. Rockhill,

United States Minister,

Peking, China,

Sir : Referring to your letter of June ist last, addressed to the Honorable
the Secretary of State, a copy of which has been forwarded to the Department,
with which was transmitted a copy of the communication addressed by the
American Members of the Educational Association of China to the President,
protesting against the alleged mistreatment of students seeking to enter the
United States, this Department regrets that specific instances of the harsh
treatment and indignities mentioned in the said communication have not
been stated, as it would be glad of an opportunity to rectify the evils if they
exist, and it is impracticable without specific data to determine who are re-
sponsible for such conditions.

The Department desires to state, however, for your information, that the
most of the complaints which have been submitted to it have been of this
general, indefinite character, and that it has been unable to learn, by the
most careful inquiry, of specific instances justifying such complaints. So
much of the letter forwarded by you as relates to the character of the quarters
in which Chinese are detained constitutes a criticism which it would seem
should properly be directed against the steamship companies by whom Chinese
are brought to this country, the detention quarters being maintained by such
companies. It is a fact worthy of note in this connection that during the fiscal
year ending June 30, 1905, seventy-two Chinese students applied for admission
to this country, of whom seventy were admitted and two rejected, and those
two were rejected under the law relating to all aliens, because the applicants
were found to be afflicted with a dajigerous cottlagioiis disease — trachoma. The
regulations do not require that Chinese of the exempt classes shall be
measured by the Bertillon system of identification, and so far as the Depart-
ment is aware the said system has never been applied to such classes.

It is needless to say that this Department is in thorough accord with the
views expressed by the Educational Association to the effect that the status
of prospective applicants for admission as members of the exempt classes
should be determined prior to the departure of the applicants from China ; for
that view has been held and freely expressed for years by the administrative
officers of this Government charged with the enforcement of the Chinese
exclusion laws.

Respectfully,

(Signed) Laurence O. Murray,

Acling Secretary,

1906.] Correspondence. 45

The Committee publish the above account of the meeting held,
and the correspondence that ensued, as a report to those by whom
they were appointed to act.

GOUVERNEUR FrANK MoSHKR,

Secretary.
6A Seward Road, Shanghai.

Correspondence.

THE AUTHOR OF ig Jf jgi ^g- ^ •

To the Editor oj

"The Chinese Recordbr."

Dear Sir : Allow me through
the columns of the Recorder
to thank Mr. Genahr for his
kindness in saying who is the
author of ffl: 5t it It ^- 'The
manuscript was given me some
years ago by the widow of the kite
Rev. F. Gough, C. M. S., Ning-
po, and I thought it was written
by his Chinese teacher. Before
publishing it 1 sought to find
out if this were so, but was
unable to do so. I shall be only
too glad to make the needful
corrections in the next edition.

Yours truly,

F. W. BAI.I.ER.

APPEAL FOR A CONSECRATED

BUSINESS MISSIONARY FOR

DIFFUSION BOOK

DEPOT.

To the Editor of

*' The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : At our last meet-
ing of Directors it was resolved
to publish in your columns an
appeal for a man to take charge
of our Shanghai Book Depot in
Honan Road. It is obvious that
this post is one which promises

the highest usefulness to any
missionary with the necessary
business ability. At present we
are forced to leave the work in
the hands of natives, and we
feel that the importance of the
work and the needs of our
patrons throughout China loudly
call for a change. We are not
without hope that some one iu
China may see in this a call to
offer himself for the post. We
are not appealing for any worker
at the expense of another mis-
sion. But there often are cir-
cumstances which in the judg-
ment of a missionary seem to
him to need a change.

Without business ability, train-
ing or push, the work cannot
be put on a satisfactory business
basis. Hence we do not wish to
have a man who would be more
or less of an experiment. A
good knowledge of Chinese —
mandarin preferred, though not
necessary — is indispensable.

The Shanghai editorial staff
are busy producing. Wliere is
the man who will feel it a privil-
ege to aid in the wide and
effective distribution of the leaves
of healing which w^e have in such
abundance ?

Applications, accompanied by
testimonials, should be sent to

Secretary,

44 Boone Road, Shanghai.
19th December, 1905.

46

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

Uncle's Reply to a Young Missionary.

My Dear Henry : It was very
pleasant to receive your note
and to find from it that you were
in such good company. Please
convey to Miss Goodheart my
best wishes for continued success
in her good w^ork ; she has m}^
benediction. The name of your
other companion, Dr. Grunther,
seems familiar to me. I think it
must be so by the law^ of associa-
tion, since I knew a kinsman of
his named Snort, some years ago.
I fancy, however, that he must
have gone to his rest, as I have
not heard from him for some
time.

Accept my best thanks for your
kind offer to sweep the threshing
floor. I should be only too glad
to do so, if I felt only strength
sufficient for it. Unfortunately
my arm is growing stiff — pro-
bably becoming fossilised — and
as you know the floor is a fairly

large one. In addition, the
operation raises a quantity of dust
which is apt to get into my eyes
and into my lungs, producing
inflammation and fever. This I
am anxious to avoid, and I feel
sure I shall have your sympathy
in the matter.

I was overjoyed to learn that
you were able to read your verse
at prayers at such an early date
and were congratulated on your
proficiency. Go on to perfection
my dear boy, and if * b' or ' d '
glide off your tongue better than
' p ' or ' t,' by all means use
them.

In conclusion may I point out
that round is not always the
opposite of flat : B flat is still
A sharp.

With best wishes for the New
Year,

I remain,

Your Affectionate Unci.«.

Our Book Table.

The World and Its People. The
British Empire. By T. Nei<Son
and Sons. Price is. lod.

This is another book in the
series of Geography Readers
published by the above firm. It
maintains the high standard set
by its predecessor, both in mate-
rial and arrangement, as well as
illustrations. The illustrations
are very good and should be a
great help to the pupil in form-
ing an idea of the conditions and
nature of the widely scattered
colonies of the British Empire.
Some of the illustrations are
colored and are a matter of art
aside from their educative value.
The book has 368 pages, and
the subject matter, which is well

selected, is devoted entirely to
Great Britain and her colonies.

The Annual Report of the
Smithsonian Institution (1903)
has been received. This number
treats very fully of the U. S.
national museums and libraries
in the United States and Europe.
The Report is invaluable to one
who would gain information on
the subject of museums and
libraries.

Mrs. Nevius' Catechism in Romanized.
Printed for the Chinese Tract So-
ciety at the Presbyterian Mission
Press. Price 6 cents.
Probably no catechism pub-
lished in China has had a larger

1906.]

Our Book Table.

47

circulation than that prepared
by Mrs. Nevius, or has been
more useful in the instruction of
enquirers and of those who have
just entered the church. It has
been widely used all over the
Mandarin districts and in other
districts also. The publication
of this very useful book in the
Standard Mandarin Romanized
will be a welcome addition to
the literature already published.
The increasing popularity of the
Standard system is very gratify-
ing to the committee, and we
may expect a rapidly increasing
literature in Mandarin Roman-
ized, so that those who under-
take to teach the unlettered need
not be deterred by the discourag-
ing thought that there is no
literature for those who learn to
read the Romanized. Other
literature is being prepared, and
it is not inconceivable that the
Romanized will, before many
years, be more popular than the
character ; for China is changing,
and changing rapidly. The fact
that four societies have already
published books in the Standard
Romanized will help to insure
confidence. The societies are the
Educational Association of China ,
the American and the British
and Foreign Bible Societies and
the Chinese Tract Society.

J. A. S.

Text-book on Botanv, Mf^^SWc^^t^ -
By Chintaro Owatari, B.Sc. Tran-
slated for the Sliansi University by
Moromoto Nishi. Edited by John
Darroch. Price I0.50.

The book contains 160 pages,
including 13 pages of English
and Chinese Glossary. The four
parts into which it is divided
treat of : i. The External Mor-
phology of Plants ; 2. The Inter-
nal Morphology of Plants; 3.
Physiological Botany ; 4. System-

atic Botan}'. It is profusely illus-
trated throughout, and has as a
frontispiece a beautifully colored
picture of an autumn scene in
the mountains, probably a moun-
tain scene in Japan, though the
location is not given. The book,
though not large, is still quite
full and comprehensive, and is
well suited for an introductory
text-book on Botany for use in
middle and high schools.

Not the least valuable part of
the book is the full glossary
which contains a fairly complete
list of botanical terms in English
and Chinese. The most of the
terms are well chosen and quite
rational in their make up and
use. A few of them, however,
seem to be somewhat far fetched,
and one or two, at least, are not
consistent with what had already
been used in a former part of the
book. For instance, the Chinese
term for Bulb is given as g»^ ^,
"fish scale stem", though it is
not easy to see the resemblance
between the two objects. ^ ^
for starch is an innovation in
nomenclature, as >]^ ^ has be-
come well established as the
name for that substance. J^* ?||
J4 for cholera is a strange com-
bination. Why not use the well
known 0 ? g is given in one
place as the equivalent of cell,
while later on ^ jjil is the term
used. No doubt in the former
case sac or receptacle would be
the proper English term, as the
thing described is quite different
from the thing described where
*iB E is used.

But these are minor criticisms.
The book is well gotten up, both
as to subject matter and mecha-
nical execution, and will be
widely useful as a brief but com-
prehensive text-book for middle
and high schools.

A. P. Parker.

48

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

Text-book on Mineralogy, 5^'''']^^r'i^.
By Dr. Kimbo. Translated for the
Sliansi University by M. Nishi.
Edited by John Darrocii. Price |o. 40.

This is a book of 80 pages
neatly printed on foreign white
paper and bound in strong red
paper covers. It is divided into
five chapters. The first treats
briefly of the Noii-metallic Rocks
as flint, mica, slate, gipsum, etc.,
etc. The second chapter treats
of the Metals, as gold, silver,
mercury, iron, etc., etc. The
third chapter is given to a brief
discussion of Minerals, their ori-
gin, classification and character-
istics. The fourth chapter tells
about Rocks and Soils. The
fifth chapter contains discussion
of the Earth's Crust, Geological
Changes, and the Uses of the
Various Minerals.

The book is wholly descriptive
and very brief, comparatively,
and hence the name is too big.
It cannot properly be called a
Text-book on Mineralogy. It
would be more properly desig-
nated as an Introduction to Des-
criptive Mineralogy.

It is finely illustrated ; the
paragraphing and spacing are
well done; while different styles
of type are used for the headings,
sub-headings, text and notes, all
of this combining to make an
attractive page that is en-
couraging to the student. Few
things are more discouraging
to a pupil than solid pages of
matter to be learned in a text-
book.

This work will be very valu-
able for primary and middle
schools, where an elementary book
is wanted as an introduction to
a more thorough study of the
subject. An English and Chinese
Glossary at the end of the book
will greatly facilitate its use by
English-speaking teachers.

A. P. Parker.

The Far East (Regions of the World
Series). By Archibald Little. Ox-
ford : the Clarendon Press. 7s. 6d.

We presume that every school-
master has in his private or
school library the preceding
volumes of this series. Every
teacher of geography undoubt-
edly has, so that we have little
to do but to call attention to the
fact that this long-awaited,
volume has appeared. The series
of which this is a constituent
volume is the most important
geographical series that has
appeared since the first volume
of Elisee Reclus' immortal work.
It is so because it marks the
new era in geography study and
teaching, the death of the cate-
gorical, memoriter, enumerative
matter-of-fact (and sometimes
matter of-fiction) .system and the
birth of the rational, scientific
matter-ior-enquiry plan of the
geography of the future. Every
book in this series is a lesson
in logic and the volume from
Mr. Little's pen not less so than
any of its fellows. As a work
of reference for the teacher it is
invaluable, and for those who
are merely residents in the East,
and not specially concerned with
its geography, the book has a
deep human interest. The phys-
ical determination of human
action finds frequent ilhtstration,
perhaps most admirably and
graphically in the section show-
ing how the topography of the
Huangho Ba.sin determined the
cour.se of the Chow invaders,
and thus determined the early
history of the country.

Perhaps the finest piece of
w^ork in the whole book is to be
found in the four chapters deal-
ing with the Yangtse Basin.
The painting is done with a large
brush, but the canvas is large
and the .sense of proportion is
not outraged but .satisfied.

1906. J

Our Book Table.

49

There is scarcely a chapter to
which we nuiy not turn for new
views of familiar facts and find
ourselves rewarded. And most
chapters contain fresh informa-
tion thoronolily dJG:ested and
presented in acceptable form.

The book is abundantly illus-
trated with maps, plans and
views, every one of which is a
genuine illustration of the text.

We have no hesitation in say-
ing that "The Far East" will
henceforth be the standard work
on its subject.

R.

A Geography of China and the World.
Shanghai : S. D. K. Price I1.25.

This volume is professedly
written from the new point of
view referred to above, and thus
its early chapters are concerned
with the mathematical and phys-
ical aspects of geography and
with maps and map projections ;
but beyond this there is little to
indicate the new aspect except
an occasional phrase.

The different portions of the
book are by no means of equal
merit. There are places where
the information is fresh and up
to date ; others where it is sadly
antiquated, and still others where
contradiction prevails. To take
examples of these : Statistics
and political changes are up to
date, as up to date as the " States-
man's Year Book" can make
them. Thus the British Mission
to Lhassa is recorded ; Mts.
Brown and Hooker are deprived
of their illegitimate pre-eminence;
and one or two sentences show
that recent Russian aggression in
the Far East is not unknown.

Of antiquated matter there is
not a little. Greenland has been
examined .since it was crossed
by Nansen in 1888, and Peary's
Expedition proved almost con-

clusively that it is a?^ island.
The "Kong Mountains" still
possess an enchained existence
ev( n in this year of grace

1905.

Of contradictory statements we
quote an example. The text
says that "Mount St. Ellas. . . .
and the volcano Popocatepetl
[which should be accented Popo-
catepetl] .... are the highest
points in North America." But
the accompanying map gives Mt.
McKinley 20,464 feet, Mt. Logan
19,540 feet, Mt. St. Elias 18,023
feet ; and does not mention the
volcano Popocatepetl at all.
Still the book may take credit
for not perpetrating and per-
petuating the Brown and Hooker
mythology.

There is considerable haziness
in the sections dealing with the
influence of ocean currents on
land climates, and the Gulf
Stream fable is nearly as promi-
nent as in the text-books of ten
years ago.

But this is a " Geographv of
China and the World." What
about China ? It is dealt with
very fully immediately after the
introductory sections on mathe-
matical and physical geography
and maps. There is a short
general chapter, and then the
provinces of the empire are
taken up one by one and all the
large towns enumerated ; in fact
there is too much enumeration.
The book could have been issued
in half the bulk if all the mere
Jists — which should be left to the
student to compile from his
atlas — had been left out.

As far as facts are concerned
in this section of the book they
are to be found in abundance
and systematically arranged ;
but the comments made on many
of the cities are not specially
luminous, and are frequently in-
consequential.

50

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

The sections dealing with the
provinces are each accompanied
by a sketch map of the province,
maps not usually to be found
in atlases, except as part of a
general map overburdened with
names. These sketch maps are
excellent, and lend themselves to
reproduction on a larger scale by
the pupils.

In spite of the defects we have
noted, and which could be reme-
died in a new edition, the book
has great merits and deserves
the attention of every school-
master in China.

R.

In Touch With Reality, by Wm.
Arthur Cornaby, editor of the
Chinese Weekly and the Christian
Review. London: Charles S.
Kelly. For sale at the Presbyterian
Mission Press. Price |i.8o.

Here is something new, in
many senses, a book in English
written by a Chinese missionary,
addressed to English readers,
and not about China or things
Chinese. We can recall only
one other case like it. The late
George Bowen, of Bombay, him-
self by the way also an editor,
felt he had a message for the
world as well as India, and wrote
so well about the Holy Spirit
that Andrew Murray was indebt-
ed to him. So our author feels
that he has a message to English
readers everywhere. God has
spoken to him especially in the
dark days of 1891, when most
missionaries had to lie low.
Surely such times of forced re-
pression of outside activity have
had their blessed ends if all of
us at that and at other times
would so retire into ourselves
and into our God that old things
would come to us in new lights,
so new in fact that they would
seem like new discoveries. Such
has been Mr. Cornaby' s expe-

rience. These addresses have,
some of them, been heard before
in China, at Kuling and in
Shanghai, and those who heard
them felt that they were worthy
of a wider audience.

These addresses show some-
thing of the poet, the artist, the
musician, the antiquary, the
scientist and the mystic. We
mean the mystic in the best
sense as the man who sees the
deep things of God, who in fact
holds that God is the only reality
and all else is transitory and
delusive. Hence the title * * In
Touch With Reality," which was
felt to be the title which best
comprehended the whole sweep
of the subjects here treated of.
Every man or woman who comes
out to China to deliver a message
to the Chinese ought to ponder
the great tidings which must be
delivered. Practical touch with
darkness will, if nothing else
will, make a man " think into "
his Gospel as he never did at
home. This is what Mr. Corna-
by has done. He says: *' The
tasks of twenty years amid such
conditions (China) have necessi-
tated the reconsideration of truths
held sacred by us, with a view to
setting forth their essentials in
Chinese apart from the husk of
our conventional phraseology."

China gives many illustrations
of great beauty which particu-
larly appeal to Chinese mission-
aries, e.g., on pages 58, 66, 86,
151, 159, 187, 219, 237, 244.

The titles of some of the
chapters will give some idea of
the range of the author's mes-
sage: Unacknowleged Atheism,
What are we required to believe,
The Joy of the Lord, Foreign
Devilry (sin), A Modern Soul,
The Distinctiveness of the Gos-
pel (splendid defence of mis-
sionary work), The Upbuilding
Force of the Universe, and then

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

51

the fine chapters on Prayer, The
Certainties of Prayer, Why pray
if God already knows. Prayer as
a Working Force. These last con-
tain the finest part of the book.

Again and again the readers
will be reminded of the young
man's man, Henry Drummond.
The science sheds so much novel
light on Bible teaching.

Every missionary should get
this book and study it. Some
parts of it are not exactly holi-
day reading, but all of it is
instinct with life. Deep spirit-
uality, combined with wide
culture, make it a book that
should live and one that we
cannot do better than help to
circulate, especially among young
men out here in the East. When
you put the book down, you will
feel ashamed that you have seen
so little into the treasures of
truth, and besides have been
living so poverty-stricken a life
when all the while you had such
a God to draw upon. Mr. Corna-
by has meditated long on the
central exercise of our religion,
and he is able to shed floods of
light on many of the questions
which arise concerning its place
and meaning.

Here is a bit to tempt you
further on : " The really godly

man is a son of light, like a fleecy
cloud floating in the azure of an
Oriental sky, shot through and
through with sunbeams." " The
Incomplete Set " is a delightful
study of the Lost Piece of Money,
in which ancient Troy and China
join in contributing apt illustra-
tion.

But the last chapter sums up
the conclusion of the message :
Tarry ye until . . .

Why then, unloving, will not men

combine,
Till olden tale each morning is

renewed :
Till Christendom is crowned with

Fire Divine.

We should add that the

Chinese Weekly is the :;^ fi] f g

and the Christian Review is the

4* S li # f5» published by

the Christian Literature Society,

44 Boone Road, and if you are

not already a subscriber, you

will at once sit down, and write

for the papers, conducted by

such a missionary as the author

of this book. ^ ,, *

D. M.

Books in Preparation.

Owing to pressure on our space
this month, we simply mention
one new book, viz., Rev. Samuel
Couling's Text-book of Zoology.

Editorial Comment.

1906 will have been ushered
in before this issue reaches our
readers ; accordingly we wish
you all

H IDery 1bapp^ IRew Bear.

This greeting is no mere forma-
lity. Although in different
parts of the mission field, en-
gaged in varied lines of work,
working under different mis-

sionary boards and represent-
•dng several nationalities, we are
all travelling the same road,
animated by the same purpose,
united by links that bind us
still closer the further we go,
and — with faces turned to the
same goal — rejoicing in the
leadership of THE Captain of
OUR salvation.

52

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

As we write these words, how-
ever, the old year has not vet

©apo. g°"^,' so before turn-
mg the new leaf and
taking a fresh breath of new
hopes for the new start, we
glance back over the year rapid-
ly coming to a close and note
what is outstanding in the
twelve months' experiences of
joy and sorrow.

The gaps in our missionary
ranks are numerous. As our
minds linger on the twenty
or so outstanding names, and
we think of the brief terms
of service of such workers
as Mrs. Burt, Mrs. Wright,
Dr. Shapleigh and Mr. Cheese-
man, and the long record
of Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, Dr.
Edkins and Rev. A. G. Jones,
we realise, with deep grati-
tude to Him who knows the
names and hopes and labors of
all, what a wealth of young
love and energy and seasoned
and sustained effort has been
expended in the evangelisation
of China.

The anxieties and labors of
war time evidently prevented
our co-workers in
^ , * * Manchuria report-
mg two gaps m
their ranks, and we feel the
/;/ Mcmoriam records of 1905
ought not to be closed without
some words of reference to Rev.
John Macintyre and Mrs. West-
water.

Mr. Macintyre arrived in
Chefoo in 1871, and four years
later passed on to Newchwang.
For twenty years in Manchuria,
with the county of Hai-cheng

for his parish, he was constant
in the "bazaar" preaching,
which has been so prominent
a feature in missionary meth-
ods in' Manchuria, and in the
work of instructing his agents,
members and catechumens.
We understand that ' ' twice,
and at times three times a day,
and almost every day, he had a
class of some sort for making
better known the Savior of
sinful men."

- .^ Too much cannot

/IDrs. , -J •

-»-^ . 4. be said m praise

of the heroic and
self-denying work of Dr. and
Mrs. Westwater in Liao-yang,
to which post they stuck dur-
ing all the vicissitudes of the
war. Sharing her husband's
anxieties, toils and dangers,
Mrs. Westwater w^as prostrated
by typhus, and after battling
twelve days with it, passed
peacefully away on 23rd April.

It has been beautifully said
that when the trenches round

Peace anD ^^^^-y^.^S were full
^ . .„ of soldiers, and the
din of battle daily
grew louder, when the mission
compound was a delightful
trysting-place and retreat from
the rush and roar of war,
the picture that stood out
unique, and will be a blessed
memory to many, was that
of Mrs. Westwater, "the gra-
cious Christian lady very brave,
and very quiet, and very kind,
whose smile gladdened them
and whose presence breathed
the benediction — ' Peace on
earth, good-will to men.' "

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

53

It is appropriate here to
refer to the Red Cross work in
^ ^ ^ Manchuria, which

^ was one of the pro-

mnient and most
cheering features of the year
just closed. Mr. Webster's
letters in the daily papers would
give our readers an idea of the
splendid relief work that was
done at the seat of war ; and
to make these impressions more
permanent and vivid we give
on the opposite page a picture
of Dr. Christie, his native
assistants, and some of the
convalescent wounded in the
Moukden hospital. It is well
to remember that part of the
time, whilst the operating-room
presented a lively scene, the
bullets fell thick round the
hospital, and the inmates could
hear them strike the roof and
chimneys. Dr. Christie and
his helpers had, in addition to
the hospital w^ork, about 10,000
refugees under their care for
some months. We look for-
ward to the issue of the report
of the International Red Cross
Society. Through its help
over 100,000 refugees were sent
back to their native districts
after the war.

* ♦ *

The two subjects that prob-
ably have been uppermost

^ , and deepest in the

minds and hearts
of our readers during the
year under review have been
those of Union and Revival.
Both have frequently been
referred to in our editorial
columns, and in this issue we
present two papers from two
different standpoints. Whilst

ourselves more sympathetic in
the matter of Union (and cer-
tainly more enthusiastic) than
otir friend who points out
some of the perils and dif-
ficulties (see page 22) we felt
it only right to give a hearing
to those who protest, even
although they feel like a voice
crying in the wilderness. And
we would express our respect
for those zealous combatants
who feel it would be a mistake
to sacrifice what to them is
truth and right for the sake
of peace. It has been well
remarked that '*to invite a
man to ignore his convictions
as to what is right and true is
to invite him to sin, and that
cannot be God's way for us.
W^e may persuade by convinc-
ing him either that he is
mistaken, or that he is over-
scrupulous, which means that
he is sacrificing the greater to
the less, but we must respect
him for standing out in his
disagreement and separation
from us if he would wish to
unite but cannot without
sacrifice of what he feels to be
true and right.'*

* * *

From T/ie Missionary Re-
view of the World we learn that
Christian Unitv is

In KnMa.

making cheering
headway in India.
Following the recent combina-
tion of six different Presby-
terian bodies into one com-
munion, comes the welcome
news of the consummation of
a scheme of co-operation and
union between four Congrega-
tional missions in South India.
We read that :

54

The Chinese Recordfer.

[January,

"Two, Madura and Ceylon, are
missions of the American ]Joard, and
two, Travancore and South India, are
operated by the London Missionary
Society, through which organization
the Congregational missionary breth-
ren in England carry on their foreign
work. Prominent representatives of
these four missions met at Madura,
July i6, and after two days of frater-
nal deliberation devised a confession
of faith, and perfected a plan for a
definite and efiPective spiritual union.
As a result, a Christian community
numbering more than 125,000 souls,
with 20,000 communicants, will be
solidified into practically one body,
and the 140 missionaries will become
more closely related to one another
than even before."

May we not hope and pray
for further results in India and
China. Our Savior told us
that '^the children of this
world are, in their generation,
wiser than the children of
light." We see the ''children
of this world" forming great
Trusts, in order to eflfect
greater economy of administra-
tion and bring about more far-
reaching results. Why should
not the ' ' children of light ' '
take a lesson from them, not
of their selfishness and greed
and riding rough shod over all
opponents, but of wisdom of
planning and effectiveness in
execution ?

* * *

In the November Recordkr
some account was given of a

prceb^terfan
IHnion.

meeting of the
Presbyterian Com-

mittee on Union
which was held September
18-20, and which took impor-
tant action looking toward the
early organization into six
synods of all the Presbyterian
branches of the church in
China. Since that meeting
several important steps have

been taken in the line of the
proposed plan. The Presby-
tery of Ningpo has voted
unanimously to overture the
General Assembly of the Pres-
byterian Church in the U. S. A.
to approve of its separation
from the home church in order
to join with other Presbyterian
branches in the organization
of the proposed Union Synod.
A meeting of the Central China
Synod of the Presbyterian
Church (North) was also called
to meet at Ningpo, and held
a very pleasant and harmo-
nious meeting on the 7th of
December. The Synod voted
unanimously in favor of the
proposed Union Synod and
invites all other branches of
the Presbyterian Church in
the provinces of Chehkiang,
Kiangsu, Anhui, Hunan and
Hupeh to send delegates to a
meeting to be held at Nan-
king on the fourth Thursday
in May, 1906, to unite in
the organization of a Chinese
Synod for Central China inde-
pendent of the home churches
and including as members all
the ministers, foreign and Chi-
nese, laboring in the above
mentioned five provinces.

The Presbytery of Shan-
tung and the East Shantung
Mission have also taken favor-
able action since the commit-
tee's meeting, and a meeting
for the organization of the
Synod at Canton, of West
Kwangtung, is to be held on
the first Thursday in the
Chinese New Year. It may
be well to note that this move-
ment has not been inaugurated
because of the growing desire

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

55

of the Chinese to be independ-
ent of foreign control, but it
is rather in furtherance of
plans which have been for many
years under advisement, and
there has been a very cordial
agreement between foreign mis-
sionaries and Chinese ministers
that the time is ripe for their
consummation.

In a preceding paragraph

we referred to the subject

of Revival. Its

•Revival. importance can
hardly be over - emphasized.
1905 has seen a remarkable
working of the Holy Spirit
from Wales and America to
China and India. In his in-
teresting account of the revival
at Soochow, to be found in our
Missionary News Department,
Dr. Parker refers to the prayers
for revival in China. The
constancy and earnestness of
such prayers is one of the prom-
inent characteristics of the
year just closed. The im-
portant position given to the
subject of Revival at the
summer conferences is also
notable; the practical convic-
tion brought home to many
being that the revival in China
must begin in our own hearts.
Where revival has been report-
ed on the field there has been
a striking similarity in some
of the developments to the
characteristic features of the
revival in Wales. We hear of
confession of sins, old family
feuds made up, sinful ways
abandoned, and switching off
to eternal topics of much of
the attention that had hitherto
been given to the temporal.

Let us keep on praying. ' ' How
much more shall your Father
give the Spirit to them that
ask Him."

Our backward glance over
1905 falls tearfully on the dread-
^. «. ^ ful incidents of
ttbe Xien.cbow jj^^ Lien -chow

fliasaacre. ^^ssacre. Some
gleams of light that shine out
of that dark chapter will be
found in our Missionary News
department. Our senior cor-
respondent in the South writes
us that

•• The Commission of Inquiry in
reference to the Lien-chow massacre
has returned, and the facts are sub-
stantially what you have already pub-
lished. . . . W^n Taotai.the Viceroy's
representative, was at the head of the
Chinese judicial court which deter-
mined the sentences of punishment to
be inflicted on the criminals. The
Conmiission found, on their arrival at
Lien-chow, that nineteen had been
already arrested. Four were arrested
later. The trial seems to have Ijeen
very thorough and impartial and with
the following result : —

" (a) Three to be decapitated. The
sentence was executed before the
Commission left Lien-chow.

*' (b) Four to be imprisoned for five
years, two for three years, two for one
year, and one for six months.

" (c) Two to be cangued.

" (d) Five to be bambooed.

•'As to the other criminals, who
have so far eluded capture and justice,
they will also be punished after arrest
and capture "

Some of the portraits which
we print as our frontispiece
kave been taken from prior
reproductions, and one has been
enlarged from a snapshot, hence
unavoidable vagueness. We
hope in next issue to publish
an article on the causes which
combined to bring about the
massacre, from the pen of one
peculiarly able to form accurate
ideas on the subject.

56

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

Another regrettable inci-
dent in 1905 was the riot in
_,, ^ , Shanq^hai on Decem-
ber i8tn. In our
Diary of Events we
have tersely summed up the
main features of the incident,
as well as the Mixed Court
complications leading up to it.
Many pages might be written
on the lessons of the riot and
of hidden dangers revealed in
the few hours of mob law, or
misrule rather ; but until the
mud that was so vigorously
stirred up then and in the days
following subsides somewhat,
it seems wisest to refrain from
writing at great length. We
would like, however, to indi-
cate how, in the lack of harmony
that was so painfully evident,
an opportunity for concilia-
tory service presents itself to
the missionary body. A daily
study of the foreign and native
press during the past few
wrecks reminds us how ''East
is East and West is West,"
and how few comparatively
have been the attempts to lead
each to understand the other.
The best of the foreign jour-
nalists tried to be impartial, but
we fear that long-established
habits of thought and deeply-
rooted racial prejudices caused
an unconscious bias which was
sufficiently strong to make the
foreign reader, who had no
other source of information,
who had little social inter-
course with the Chinese, and
who also was affected by racial
idiosyncrasies, conclude that
the Chinese were decidedly and
wholly in the wrong. Matters
on the other hand were not
helped by some of the writers

in the native press, with more
zeal than knowledge, and a
hiding, for argument's sake,
of the knowledge they pos-
sessed, pouring forth columns
of fluent tirade which were
calculated to foment the dan-
ger brought about by the
inflammatory speech of the
recent native gatherings. Mis-
representation was seen at its
worst in the quoting of the
beautiful theories of Chinese
law to controvert references
to facts which are painfully
obvious to many foreigners,
but must be doubly so to our
native friends. The juggling
with ideas has been instru-
mental in cooling the growing
warmth of some would-be
friends of China.

■i^ -x- #

Can our literary missionaries
not take time to write articles
to the native press
that will show
there is another
side ? And may we not all do
what we can to help our fellow-
countrymen to understand and
sympathise somewhat with the
view-point of our Chinese breth-
ren and sisters ? All honor
to Dr. Gilbert Reid who has
rendered such excellent service
in the series of lectures he has
delivered on "Friendly Inter-
course." In his endeavors to
bridge the gulf he has made
clear that harmony is not a
matter of one side but two sides
(and one of these sides has
eighteen different shades). The
foreigner as well as the native
has a duty to perform in striv-
ing after harmony, and apart
from the higher Christian in-
centives, he should learn the

®pportimlt\?.

1906. J

Editorial Comment.

57

words of Mencius, ''Love others
and others will love you, re-
spect others and others will
respect you.-*

♦ * *

It is a great pleasure to be
able, in view of the above, to

ot otbers ^ "5^^ ^^'^^^ ^^
the indefatigable

book-maker, Mr. Wang Hang-
tong, which aims at giving
his fellow-countrymen, includ-
ing their little ones, a true
idea of other countries. He
mentions how disgusted a fel-
low-countryman of his was on
being excluded from a gentle-
man's waiting room in Europe
"because he was a lady." To
be deceived by his long gown
and general appearance the
traveller considered inexcus-
able ignorance. Mr. Wang
wishes his countrymen to know
that they are quite as ignorant
themselves, and the longing to
correct many foolish notions
now current among his own
people has impelled him to
prepare his ** World-wide Geo-
graphy for young people ' ' as
an antidote for some of their
strange misconceptions.

It is worthy of note that
Mr. Wang's latest work is
•n m».^i^ ^" illustrated Girls'
-^1 Reader. We have
just seen the preface,
and quote some of the sen-
tences. After referring to the
fact that of the two hundred
millions of women in China
very few have any knowledge
of the written character, and
still fewer can read, and how
the vast majority may be

likened to prisoners, shut in
by the strong bars of ignorance
and superstition, their darken-
ed minds having no opportunity
to gain the light which educa-
tion makes possible, he says :

" We all should realize that the
education of the women of a country
is realh' of more importance than the
education of her men — for, as has
been said by one of our sages, "a
good girl makes a good wife ; a good
wife makes a good mother ; a good
mother makes a good son." If the
mothers have not been trained from
childhood . where are we to have the
strong men for our nation ? . . .

If then, we say, as China has said
for so long : " Let the men be edu-
cated ; let the women remain in ignor-
ance," one-half at least of the nation
can never be as useful as it should.
It is as if one-half of a man's body
were paralyzed ; those members not
only being helpless, but proving a
weight and hindrance to those not
affected ....

Because in the past education ha^
been so nearly limited to the boys,
there were no books for use in girls'
schools, and appreciating this lack I
have prepared this Girls' Reader, in
the hope that it may be of use in these
schools that are to train the mothers
of our nation."

We much regret that the
little word "one" was left out
_ , of our editorial

a Cottection. paragraph on

page 648 (December issue). We
were quoting from Dr. Faber's
paper on tlie use of the Classics
in mission schools, and as the
quotation is worthy of reproduc-
ing, we give it with the correct-
ed sentence in small capitals.

" This then is the task which
belongs to those who undertake to
teach the Chinese : The Chinese
classics, literature and history have to
be thoroughly digested and put into
a form suitable both for teachers and
students. No one forkigner. can

ACCOMPLISH THIS GIGANTIC WORK.

Still it has to be done. There is the
strong-hold of Chinese heathenism,
which must be taken, if the battle is
to be won."

58

The Chinese Recorder.

[January

Missionary News.

Gleams from Lien-chow.

Two or three gleams of light shine
out of the darkness of that sad Octo-
ber 28th.

A Chinese Christian, who was near
her, tells us that after Mrs. Machle
was brought out of the cave she sat
down under a large tree, and during
the few moments of earthly life that
remained was explaining to the rough
crowd the folly of idolatry and the
necessity of seeking something better,
until one of the ruffians with a large
stone crushed in her brain. Her last
Gospel message had been given. Her
earthly work was ended. The crown
was waiting.

A little boy from the Mission school
showed two of the missionaries who
went to Lien-chow a long scar on his
head. He said he had followed the
missionaries to the cave and that after
Dr. Chesnut was brought out one of
the crowd had with a knife inflicted
this cruel cut. He said that Dr. Ches-
nut tore off a part of the skirt of her
dress and bound up his wound. He
was the last patient she treated of the
thousands she ministered to at Lien-
chow. She was ever thoughtful of
others rather than herself.

A man, Lo Cheung-shing, not a
professing Christian, found Miss Pat-
terson in the darkness of the cave and
whispered, " I am a believer in Jesus ;
follow me and I will save you."
He then led her to a deep pit, like a
well with a shelving rock, and helped
her down the steep side to the bottom
and remained with her till rescuers
had come, when he found Dr. IMachle
and told him where she was. While
in the pit she asked him if he was
really a believer in Jesus. He said :
"No." ''Then why did you tell me
you were? " " I feared if I did not say
that you would not trust me and I
could not save you." A brave hero
was this man. The assistance he gave
was at the risk of his own life, and it
was given to a stranger. He will have
his reward. — Extract of letter from
Dr. Noyes.

C. I. M. Conference at
Chian.

Twenty-eight of the foreign workers
(fifteen men and thirteen women) of
the Inland Mission, laboring in South
and West Kiangsi, met in conference at
Chian, from October 25th to 3i8t, 1905.

The following subjects were pre-
sented in ten minute papers and then
discussed : —

Itineration.

Opening out-stations.

Dealing with enquirers.

Our relation to litigation.

Instructing candidates, [helpful.

Form of church service most

Methods of encouraging Bible
study.

Chinese helpers— their (a) train-
ing, (b) treatment, (c) work,
and (d) wages.

Sunday observance.

Marriage and burial customs.

Giving and self-support.

Schools.

Women's work.

The proposals of the Pei-tai-ho
Committee on Union were discussed
and generally approved. The com-
pilation of 50 to 100 hymns, to be issued
as a supplement to existing hymn-
books, was preferred to the issuing of
a new union hymn-book. The use of
the common designations for all Pro-
testant churches and preaching places
was approved, with the suggestion
that the characters be written horizon-
tally, not perpendicularly.

It was decided to hold a Conference
for Chinese workers at Kanchow in
March, 1906, D. V. Will readers of
the Recorder kindly remember this
coming conference in prayer ?

W. T.

Revival at Soochow.

The annual conference and
mission meeting of the Southern
Methodist Mission was held iu
Soochow, October 4-9. The
reports from the workers in
various parts of the field, in
Southern Kiangsu and Northern
Chekiang, showed progress along
all lines. The country is open
to the preaching of the Gospel
in a way that we have never
known before.

Our meeting was one of
spiritual power. The Holy-
Spirit was manifestly present
from the beginning. Some weeks
before the date set for the

1906.]

Missionary News.

59

conference the brethren in
Soochow had sent out a circular
letter to all the workers in the
mission, native and foreign,
calling for a concert of prayer
for God's special blessing upon
the meeting. The answer came
in wonderful power and spiritual
quickening. In addition to the
regular business sessions, meet-
ings were held in the afternoon
for devotional Bible study and at
night for preaching. Meetings
for special prayer and testimony
were held at other times. We
were made conscious of the
manifest presence of God's Spirit
at the very first of the meeting
for Bible study, and during the
days that we were together many
of the foreign and native workers
were graciously blessed.

Our mission prayer meeting
Saturday night was a time of
blessing. After a stirring ad-
dress from the leader, Brother
Hendry, the meeting was thrown
open, and one after another of
the missionaries arose and testifi-
ed to blessings received, or made
confession of failures and short-
comings and asked for prayer.
After nearly two hours of this
blessed fellowship, Brother Hen-
dry called on some one to make
the closing prayer. But the meet-
ing was not closed. Others who
had not spoken told their heart
experiences. Thus the meeting
went on for another hour or
more and the doxology was sung
and the meeting brought to a
close. But it would not stay
closed. There were others still
who felt that they must speak,
and again the meeting went on
until nearly midnight, when we
felt that we must .separate, as a
sun-rise prayer meeting had been
appointed for the next morning,
and it was necessary to get a little
rest in preparation for the work
of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was a full and a
blessed day-preaching in Chinese
in the forenoon, Sunday-.school
mass meeting in the afternoon,
preaching in English at 4 o'clock
and a baptismal and communion
service at night, followed by a
testimony meeting. The church
was crowded with Christians and
outsiders, students from the
university, etc. The testimony
meeting was a wonderful time.
Preachers and laymen, men and
women, boys and girls, rose to
their feet, often two or three at a
time, and told of what God had
done for them in giving them
clearer views of the Christian
life, convicting them of failures
and sins, in renewing their
spiritual life and filling their
hearts with joy, etc., etc. This
meeting went on till nearly 12
o'clock, and even then it was
with much reluctance that we
separated. It was good to be
there. Truly our Lord Jesus
can save the Chinese and
manifest Himself to them.

The Holy Spirit has u.sed two
Li brothers as His chief instru-
ments in doing this gracious
work. One is a member of the
conference and the pastor of the
church where the conference
met. The other, his younger
brother, was formerly in the
Tientsin University, where he
had gone to study medicine.
He was there brought under the
special power of the Holy Spirit
through the instrumentality of
Mr. Wood berry, and he decided
to give up the study of medicine
and devote his life to working
for the salvation of his fellow-
countrymen. These two brothers
have had wonderful experiences
of the deep things of God, and
their hearts have been set on fire
for the salvation of souls. God
has been graciously pleased to
use them for the deepening of

60

The Chinese Recorder.

[January,

the spiritual life of many of the
Chinese Christians and for the
conversion of many unbelievers.
We have been praying for a
revival in China. This meeting
at Soochow is an answer, in part,
to our prayers. We have also
been praying that God would
raise up leaders for this work.
God is answering this prayer
also in raising up such men as
these two Li brothers. Let us
continue to pray that such scenes
as we have witnessed in Soochow
and other places may be witness-
ed soon all over China and the
great revival for which we all
are longing may come in reality
over the whole country.

A. P. Parker.

A New Departure in
Shantung.

A very interesting series of
functions has just been held
in connection with our Mission
iu Chi-nan-fu, the occasion being
the opening of the new buildings
to be used as the Museum and
Lecture Hall of our Christian
Institute for the Provincial Capi-
tal. The Lecture Hall is just at
present temporarily used as a mu-
seum till the other buildings, still
to be erected, can be completed.

The first of the ceremonies
took place on the 2nd inst., and
the governor of the province and
all the high officials in the
capital attended in state dress
in honour of the occasion. The
British, American and German
Consuls also attended in full
uniform witli all the members of
the missionary and foreign com-
munity then present in the city.
The guests numbered in all
about eighty persons, but as
the Chinese officials had numer-
ous retainers the total number
present might have been counted

in hundreds with thousands out-
side as spectators.

The governor arrived about
2.30 in the afternoon, and after
tea drinking and a chat for a •few
minutes a procession was form-
ed, headed by Master Allen
Whitewright, who led the way to
the door of the Lecture Hall and
there presented the key for the
governor to open the buildings.

The Hall is about eighty feet
long by about forty feet broad,
and contains a number of zoolog-
ical specimens with maps, charts,
diagrams, electrical and other
apparatus, and these were all
duly inspected and admired by the
multitude who filled the building.

After some time spent in this
way the invited guests retired
to the side room, and short
speeches were made by the gover-
nor declaring the buildings open,
by Mr. Harmon on behalf of the
Mission, and Mr. Whitewright
with special reference to the
English-speaking guests. Then
the company was photographed
and the ceremony ended.

The following day (Sunday)
special services were held in the
Presbyterian Mission chapel in
the morning, which was conduct-
ed by Rev. J. P. Bruce, B.A.,
of our Mission, and in the after-
noon in the Institute Buildings,
conducted by the Rev. W. B.
Hamilton, of the American Pres-
byterian Mission. This meeting
was followed by a special meeting
for the missionaries, conducted by
Rev. P". Harmon and addressed by
Rev. J. S. Whitewright, and the
dedicatory prayers offered by Dr.
Jas. B. Neal, of the American Pres.
Mission, and the present writer.

The following day was held
as ladies' day, and the wives
of the officials and gentry and all
the ladies of the community,
who were specially invited, fitly
celebrated the occasion.

1906.]

Diary of Events in the Far East.

61

All this indicates the immense
change which has come about
in the last few years in the
attitude of the classes and masses
to our missionary work.

Never before in the history
of missions in this province has
there been such open and hearty
recognition of our presence and
interest taken in our proceedings.

Never before have all ranks
and classes been brought together
in so harmonious and friendly
relations, and this augurs well
for the work which has now
commenced so auspiciousl3\

Mr. and Mrs. Whitewright are
most heartily to be congratulated
on the triumphant success of
their well planned schemes and

the patent adaptability of the
handsome buildings to the pur-
poses for which thej^ were
designed.

There has thus begun a w^ork
of which none can foretell the
possibilities ; never before has
there been such an " open door"
and so friendly a people waiting
apparently to be led into the
ways of peace and the path of
truth and righteousness.

It is with full hearts and
abounding thankfuness to our
Heavenly Father that these
proceedings terminmted and to
the Triune Jehovah do we as-
cribe all the praise.

R. C. Forsyth.

Diary of Events in the Far East.

December, jgo^.
Ubc /l^irc^ Court Complicationa.

8tli. — Unfortunate squabble in the
Mixed Court, Shanghai, in connection
with the disposal of several persons
implicated in a supposed kidnapping
case. The Chinese magistrate wished
to retain the prisoners at the Mixed
Court ; the British Assessor felt that,
being already in the hands of the
police, they ought to be kept in
custody at the Municipal gaol. The
Mixed Court runners attempted to
forcibly obtain possession of the pris-
ouers, blows were struck, an unseemly
fracas resulted, and the Court broke
up in great confusion.

This case assumed grave importance
in view of the long previous difference
of opinion and assertion of different
standpoints on the part of the Muni-
cipal Council and the Chinese author-
ities. The latter considered it their
right to deal personally with cases in
which both parties were Chinese,
apart from the dictum of the foreign
assessor who, they claimed, was only
entitled to sit with the magistrate in
cases where foreigners were con-
cerned. The Council's action was
taken in the interests of the native
communitj' and in hope of remedy-
ing the more flagrant of the abuses
which had given the Mixed Court an
unenviable reputation.

The closing of the Mixed Court to
business until the Taotai's demands
for the dismissal of the British Asses-
sor and police inspector in charge
had been carried out ; the dissemina-
tion of inflammatory and imaginative
accounts of the fracas ; the meetings
of Chinese Chamber of Commerce
and several of the principal guilds ;
the call for a general strike to assert
so-called Chinese rights, with boycott
agitation, were some of the causes of

"Cbc "Kiot of December I8tb.
Two bands of rowdies, evidently
organized and apparently subsidised
by persons unknown, forcibly stop-
ping the Hongkew market and call-
ing all rice shop keepers to put up
their shutters in Nanking Road dis-
trict, formed the nucleus of move-
ments which went on from the
aaeaulting of foreigners to the burning
of Louza police station and the Hotel
Metropole annexe. The attacks on
foreigners and destruction of property
were so serious that the volunteers
were called out and bluejackets and
marines landed from three British
men-of-war. Other nationalities

helped as their vessels arrived, and
order was restored with a Chinese loss
of about thirty killed or wounded. We
understand that no foreigners were
killed, although we hear that one
Sikh has since died.

62

The Chinese- Recordet.

[January, 1906.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

AT Tuh-shan, Kuei-cheo, October 25th,

the wife of B. CuRTis WaTkrs, C. I.

M. , of a daughter (Katherine Lydia).
At Shanghai, December ist, the wife

of Dr. C. F. S. L1NC01.N, A. P. E. C.

M., of a daughter (Marcia).
At Shun-teh, Chihli, December ist,

the wife of M. Iv. Griffith, C. I.

]M., of a son.
At Wei-hui-fu, Honan, December 4th,

the wife of Rev. W. H. Grant, C.

P. M., of a son.

MARRIAGES.

At Chen-cheo, September 20th, C. J.
Jensen, and Miss F. Y. Kohberg,
both C. I. M.

At Hankow, October 21st, H. J, Ma-
son and Miss Hannah Parker,
both C. I. M.

At Ichang, November 3rd, H. Wup-
PERFET.D and Miss RuTh Crouch-
ER, both C. I. M.

At Shanghai, November 30th, INIr. Wm.
C. Booth, Anglo-Chinese School,
Chefoo, and Miss Elsie Harrod.

At Chungking, December 5th, H. Mc-
Lean and Miss S. Bengston, both
C. I. M.

At Hankow, December 15th, F. K.
Shoppe and ^Miss J. Arndtz, both
C. I. M.

ARRIVALS.

At Shanghai : —

November 4th, Mr. and Mrs. A.
Bland (ret.), Misses Eela C. Button,
B.A., E. F. M.Jackson, J. E.Turner,
G. EiNOM, J. MacEaren, M. Biggam,
E. M. Yard, M Pearson and M. E.
Maun, from England, also Misses I\E
C. Peterson (ret.), A. Czach, M. W.
Johannsen and A. Grieb, from
Germany, Misses A. Selleberg, O.
G. W. Ahlman and J. Gustafsson,
from Sweden, all for C. I, M.

November 12th, Mr, and Mrs. R.
Rohn and three children (ret.), from
Germany, for C. I. M.

November 15th, Mrs. A. E. ArnoTT
and child. Misses F. E. McCulloch
and Lilias Reid (ret.), E. L. Giles
and J. SargEANT, from Australia, all
C. I. M.

November 17th, Rev. E. Sovik,
Misses Christine Johansrn and
MarieFredrikson, A.L. M., Honan.

November 19th, Mr. James Lawson
(ret.), from England, Dr. C. C. El-
WOTT, from N. A. for C. I. M.

November 26th, Miss D. Lampe, for
N. L. M., Lao-ho-keo, Messrs. A.
Stanislavv and E. O. Schild, from
Germany, for C. I. M.

Novemi)er 30th . Rev. and Mrs. W.
B-. Burke and three children (ret.),
M. E. S. ; Rev. and Mrs. W. H. Lingle
and two children (ret.), A. P. M.,
Siang-tan; Dr. and Mrs. W. E. Mack-
LiN and four children (ret.), F. C.
M, S. , Nanking ; Mary V. Glenton,
M.D. (ret.), and Miss S. H. Higgins,
trained nurse, A. P. E. C. M., Wu-
chang ; INIiss Elsie B. Harrod.

December 7th, P. E. and Mrs. Ehn,
from Sweden, for C. I. M.

December 9th, Mrs. G. StoTT, W.
W. and Mrs. Robertson and child,
W. Grundy, Miss Emily Black, all
(ret.), from England, for C. I. M. ;
Rev. C. F. Symons. C. M. S., Shang-
hai; MissE.M. Read, C. M.S., Chu-ki;
Rev. A. R Crawford and wife (ret.),
I. P. M., ]Manchuria.

December i6th, Rev. Wm. Deans
(ret.), Ch. S. M., Ichang; Miss E. P.
Barber, A. P. E. C. M.\ Hankow.

December i8th, Mr. E. J. Clinton
and family, Mr. Moore Gordon and
Miss Barker, So. Chihli M.

December 21st, Rev. A. A. TalboT
and wife and Miss Catherine Wil-
liams. S. P. M.

December 23rd, Rev. J. M. Espey,
A. P. M., Shanghai.

Secretaries for Intl. Com. Y. M. C. A.
arrived this fall : —
Mr. and INIrs. F. S. Brockman
(ret.), Shanghai; Mr. Frank M.
Brockman, Seoul, Korea; G. H.
Cole R. M. Hersey, Tientsin ; F. B.
Whitmore and wife, J. H. Wallace,
Nanking; W. E. Taylor and wife,
Hankow; R. R. Servick and wife,
Cheu-tu.

departures.

From Shanghai : —

November 4th, Mr. D. E. HoSTR,
for FvUgland, Miss ToRA Hattrem,
for Norway, and MissS. Largergren,
for Sweden, all C. I. M.

December 2nd, J. ChrisTENsen, for
Norwav, via America, Miss Gertrude
Cole, for England, both C. I. M.

December i8th. Miss K. E. KaufF-
MAN, M. F,. M., Foochow.

December 23rd, Charles Fair-
clough, for England, via America,
C. I. M.

o
w

I-; On

o
a

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. FEBRUARY, I9O6. NO. 2.

Independence and Co-operation in the
Church of Christ in Japan.

BY REV. A. OLTMANS, TOKYO.

THE two things in the above title are not identical, but
they are very closely related, at least in this present
instance. Neither of the two ideas are new in Japan. The
question of an entirely independent Japanese church is said to
have been broached already in the very early days of Christianity
in this land. It may seem somewhat ungracious to say so, but
one cannot help thinking that had this question been rightly
settled in those early days, it would never have become the very
vexing question which it is at present. Still I dare say none of us
would have acted more wisely in their place than did our noble
and venerated predecessors. Hence rather than casting any
blame upon them, we had better set ourselves to the task of
solving as satisfactorily as is possible the question as it confronts
us to-day.

Let me also say that this two-fold question of independence
and co-operation is by no means confined to what is called the
''Nihon Kirisuto Kyokwai " ("Church of Christ in Japan").
It confronts all the Christian bodies in this country, though the
condition and constitution of some of these bodies make the
question either less pressing just now, or more difficult of being
taken in hand than is the case with some other bodies. But for
the sake of clearness and brevity I will confine my present
remarks to the " Church of Christ in Japan."

64 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

Let me first outline the general attitude of the missionaries,
working with the ^* Church of Christ in Japan," on the subject.
As far as independence of the Japanese church is concerned in all
matters ecclesiastical I think the missionaries almost, if not
wholly, without an exception, have always taken the stand that
it should be a purely Japanese church ; the missionaries simply
giving advice, and that for the most part only when asked to do
so. True, some foreign missionaries have been, and are now,
connected as members with the Japanese Presbyteries, but I
believe that in every instance this was done at the urgent request
of the Japanese themselves. The writer himself was strongly
urged by Japanese brethren to take this step, and would have
taken it had not his Home Board advised against it. The
number of missionaries at present so connected is, I believe,
comparatively very small. As for our advisory membership in
Presbyteries, this was freely granted by the Japanese, and does
not carry with it the right to vote on any question, though at one
time, many years back, it did include such a right. A similar
membership in the " Daikwai " (Synod) is entirely at the
option of the Presbyteries, where such advisory members have to
be chosen. It is not too much to say that the foreign missionary
body as a whole^ working with the "Nihon Kirisuto Kyokwai,"
stands outside of its ecclesiastical boundaries, and, as far as I
know, has no desire whatever to get inside. We strongly
believe that the Japanese brethren should wholly control their
own ecclesiastical affairs.

But, one may ask, where then is the difficulty of co-
operation with the church ? It lies largely in some features of
the evangelistic work connected with the church. Where the
money is wholly, or to a great extent, supplied by the missions,
the missionaries — some more, some less — have felt thus far that in
matters such as the choice of evangelist, his location and the
nature of his work, the missionary should have a voice, which
in many cases would practically amount to a controlling voice.
The idea has been general, I think, that the missionary was
expected by his Home Board to assume this responsibility,
because of the funds which the Home churches are putting into
this work. The oft-heard phrase of the missionary in reply to
questions of our Japanese brethren on this point was, *ju£t as far
as you pay for the work you may control it. * I do not mean to
say, however, that this rule has always been strictly adhered to
by all the missions. It is simply the expression of a general

1906.] Independence and Co-operation in the Church of Christ. 65

principle. For a number of years the Japanese had half control
of evangelistic work, into which they put one-fourth of the funds
expended. In school work, by the way, much is carried on
under joint control of equal numbers from the Japanese and the
missionaries without regard to the amount of money going into
it from Japanese or foreign sources. A similar plan was. recently
proposed by some of the Japanese brethren for all the evangel-
istic work. But this found no favor with the Missions at their
recent meetings of Council, and it is almost certain that it
would not have been acceptable to a large number of Japanese,
especially not to the radical wing of the so-called ^'independence
party." These latter plead for an entire control of all evan-
gelistic work in all its details by the Japanese church itself,
regardless of the sources of the funds, by means of which the work
is carried on. In a word, these brethren want self-control, pure
and simple, in every part of the work belonging to the '' Church
of Christ in Japan." The question before us is, "Are we
ready to give this to them, either with or without the supply of
Mission funds ? '' Of course if the funds for the work should be
withheld by the missions, then there could be no question of
any control by them over this work unless the Japanese church
should request them to exercise such control. But the more
pertinent part of this question is, ''Can the missionaries relin-
quish all such control and at the same time advise their Home
Boards to continue their financial assistance to the work?" If
they could, and the Home Boards saw their way clear to consent
to this, one great step would be gained in making clear the
status of the missionary in relation to the Japanese church. He
would then purely be a helper, and that only in so far as the
Japanese church might ask for his help.

But the serious question here arises whether the con-
tinuance of financial assistance under such circumstances would
not be a hindrance, rather than a help, to the attainment of
financial independence by the church.^ And as such independ-
ence is also one of the main objects for which the Japanese
themselves are striving, we may well doubt whether they would
be willing to accept financial assistance to any great extent.
But whether they would or not, another grave question would
at once arise, namely, "What to do with the foreign missionaries
that had been thus far engaged in this evangelistic work?"
Supposing that the church as such should feel but little or
no need of their services and hence make no demands on them,

66 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

what then should they do ? Clearly one of two things, namely,
work outside and independent of the church, or leave the
country. Some would perhaps choose the one, and others the
other of these two alternatives. How soon the necessity for
making such a choice will come, is difficult to say, but we hope
that when the time does come, wisdom may be given to each
one to make the right choice.

Some speak, others think, of still another possible alter-
native, namely, a split in the Japanese church itself. This is
based upon the incontrovertible fact that on more than one
important point connected with the present question the
Japanese brethren do not think at all alike. But it seems
to the writer that such a split would be, of all things, the
most deplorable for the future welfare of the church itself
and for the cause of Christianity at large in this land. Let
us hope that this will not be necessary and may never come
to pass.

Many other points of more or less importance call for
attention in connection with the present subject, but fear of
becoming too lengthy causes me to refrain from mentioning
them. Let me say in conclusion that the question, when
applied to educational work, is both more simple and less pressing
up to this time. The carrying on of educational work such as
is now carried on in Japan almost exclusively by mission funds
beyond the income from fees, seems as yet so far beyond the
reach of our Japanese brethren, financially at least, that independ-
ence here cannot really be a live question with them unless
they should secure endowments for such institutions ; nevertheless
it is inevitable that the same laws of reasoning will be applied
to schools that are now applied to evangelistic work, just as soon
as the carrying them into effect falls at all within the bounds of
practicability. And I am sure that no one will rejoice more
than the missionaries on the field when the ''Church of Christ
in Japan " shall really be able to carry on and maintain all its
v/ork by its own forces of men and women and by its own
funds. We missionaries are here mainly now to help them
in the attaining of this great object, and it is our privilege to
rejoice at every real step which our Japanese brethren make
towards this goal.

AN' ANCIENT PORTRAIT OF f.AO TZLJ.

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus. #7

Lao Tzu Redivivus."^

BY REV. W. ARTHUR CORNABY.

THE Chinese philosophers K'ling Ch'iu and Meng K'o are
comparatively well known to Western scholars by their
Latinised names Confucius and Mencius, and their
works have long been accessible to English readers in the
standard translations of Professor Legge ; but the name of Lao
Tzu can hardly be said to be known outside the special circle
of students in China, or those specially interested in Chinese
literature at home. So that those familiar with the man and
his message will allow me to begin at the beginning by explain-
ing that the two words Lao Tz^i, simply mean "Venerable
Philosopher" — unless we are inclined to take a Taoist fairy
tale as our authority, and translate the words " Old Boy " — one
who was born old — as Professor Giles seems to do.

Lao Tzu was born 604 B. C, fifty-three years before the
birth of Confucius, and two hundred and thirty-two years before
the birth of Mencius. Apart from the classic attributed to him,
the Tao Teh King, we are indebted for all that is known about
him to China's great historian and biographer Ssu-ma Ch'ien
(born about 145 B.C.). .He tells us that Lao Tzu's surname
was Li (so that on the analogy of the names Confucius and
Mencius he may be called Lifucius or Licius), his personal
name was Erh ("Ear," probably from his having long-lobed
ears), and that he held office as keeper of the state records at
Lo-yang, the capital of the Chou dynasty. The biographer
proceeds to say :

Confucius went to the state of Chou (from the state of
Lu ; i.e., from south Shantung to north Honan) to consult Lao
Tzu on the principles of propriety. Lao Tzu said: "The
men of antiquity, of whom you speak, Sir, have long since
mouldered in their graves. O^ly their words remain. If a
noble character finds his time he rises to the occasion, but if
his time has not come he goes on his wa}- like a wisp of wind-
blown straw. The wise merchant hides his treasures as though
he were poor, the man of refined virtue assumes the attitude of
being a stupid. You, Sir, should abandon your proud airs,
your many desires, j'our affectation, and your exaggerated
programme. These things are useless. That is all I have to
say to you."

* The Tao Teh King. By C. Spurgeon Medhurst. Chicago Theosophical
Book Coucern, 1905.

68 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

Confucius departed, and said to his disciples: ** I know
of the flight of birds, the swimming of fishes, and the running
of beasts. They may be caught with nooses, nets, and arrows.
But the dragon ! I know not how he rides on the wind and
strides the clouds when he soars aloft. I have seen I^ao Tzu
to-day ; I seem to have seen the dragon ! "

Lao Tzii practised Tao and virtue. His doctrine is one of
self-concealment and namelessness. He resided in the state of
Chou most of his life ; when he foresaw the decay of the
dynasty, he withdrew from office to the frontier. The officer of
customs said to him : ** Since it pleases you to retire, I request
you to write a book for me." Thereupon Lao Tzu wrote a
work of over five thousand words, upon the principles of Tao
and virtue. Then he departed. No one knows where he died.

From these personal particulars, let us glance at the times
in which Lao Tzu lived. The Chou dynasty began in the year
1 122 B.C. The Martial Monarch won his way to the throne
by defeating a tryant of unspeakable infamy, but having gained
the throne he was more generous than prudent, for he divided
the realm among his relatives and friends in such wise as to
invite much rivalry among the various states and their rulers
from the second generation onwards. The Chou dynasty really
meant a cluster of rival states around the state of Chou, on the
bend of the Yellow River. The state of Chou being situated
in the middle was called the Middle Realm — a term gradually
applied to the whole of the states considered as a unity. These
rival states resembled the kingdoms of Europe in the Middle
Ages, and the sovereignty of the Middle Realm of Chou was
somewhat like the influence of the Papal See over the various
kingdoms of mediaeval Europe. It was certainly not more than
that, and often less. The throne of Chou was occupied by
rulers who knew less and less how to rule.

In 878-826 B.C. there was the "Cruel Monarch," who
** gagged the people's mouths," and was driven from his
palace; next the "Manifest Monarch " (827-780), who refused
to set a patriarchal example by handling the plough, where-
upon his consort stripped herself of her jewels and went to
prison ; and on the king's coming to ask the reason, explained
herself as Tennyson's Enid; fearing that she was *'no true
wife" now that her lord was "melted into mere effeminacy."
Then the king within the husband awoke, and was "manifest"
as his title implies. But like David he committed one offence
against Heaven's protective and uncalculating benevolence, for
he numbered the people, and Heaven's face was turned from

1906.] Lao Tzii Rediviviis, 69

the land for a while. His successor, the '* Occult Monarch "
(781-771 j, became ere long bewitched by the fairy charms of a
woman born in an altogether weird fashion, and nurtured in
secret. For her he broke the law of Heaven as recorded in
Deut. xxi. 15-16, for he "made the son of the beloved the
firstborn before the son of the hated, which was the firstborn."
He drove out the first-born and made him an alien. And to
gain a smile from the woman who had bewitched him he lit the
beacon-fires when there was no danger ; at which the chieftains
assembled in hot haste. When, lo ! the woman laughed. But
anon the aliens among whom he had driven his firstborn pre-
pared war against him. Then were the beacon-fires lit in
earnest, but no chieftains came this time.

The firstborn gained the throne, but only as a debtor both
to chieftains and barbarians, so that he had to confer favours
upon both. Fearing that the aliens who had helped him might
menace the land, he removed his capital from near their frontier,
surrendering that post with all its bracing necessities of vigil-
ance, to the chieftain of Ts'in. Then a favoured chieftain in the
north-east usurped the royal prerogatives of sacrificial ceremonies.
Others were insurgent, and there arose a socialistic talker, one
Mo Tzu, who proclaimed the doctrine of indiscriminate regard,
to the loosening of the bonds between prince and statesman,
father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother,
friend and companion. At length the ** Placid Monarch"
died, and his widow was fain to beg funeral expenses of the
state of Lu, — and the boon was denied her. Thus low had
royalty fallen in the year 718 B.C.

Nor did national affairs improve during the lifetime of Lao
Tzu ; it was a period of upset and confusion, of plots and intri-
gues, of attempted Peace Congresses and soon -forgotten oaths.
**Ivao Tzu foresaw the fall of the Chou dynasty," we read.
Living in the capital he could hardly but foresee it. The State
was rotten, and he retired from oflBce to meditate among the hills
and valleys, in the solitudes of nature. Here we presume he
produced the work that nearly every Chinese writer attributes to
him, the Classic of Tao and virtue. Professor Giles pronounces
that book "a clumsy forgery," but a careful examination of
its contents seem to indicate a master-mind, which, for our
present purpose, we will assume to have been that of Lao Tzu.

In the city of unkingly kings and of unsubstantial make-
believe, he had his initial lesson of the vanity of many things

70 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

mundane, and was much impressed by the ineffectiveness of
governing by greed and officiousness. He says : *' The people
suffer from famine because of the multitude of taxes consumed
by their superiors. The people are difficult to govern because
of the officiousness of their superiors. " (XX); and so he pro-
ceeded to form his own theory of right government as a rebound
from the forceful and fussy misrule he saw around. He lived
in the midst of internicine strife, when the spirit of militarism
was rampant, and so he formed his own theory on covetousness
and war. He was oppressed with the materialistic outlook of
the age, and so he took refuge in the spiritual. The thought-
lessness of the generality saddened him into philosophy, and he
felt the loneliness of the thoughtful life. He soliloquises thus :

The multitude are joyful and merry — as though feasting
on a day of sacrifice ... I alone am without indications from
the sensuous world. My homeless heart wanders among the
things of sense as if it had nowhere to stay. The multitude
have enough and to spare — I alone am as one who has lost
something. Have I then the mind of a fool ? Am I very
confused ? Ordinary men are bright enough. I alone so am
dull. Ordinary men are full of excitement. I alone am heavy-
hearted. (I am as one) on a boundless sea, drifting to and
fro, without a place of rest ... I am alone — differing from
others, in that I reverence and seek the Nursing Mother.
(XX).

Here are w^ords which all deep-souled thinkers know
something about, and upon which his latest interpreter remarks :
*' Experience had made him wise, but how had he attained that
wisdom ? By contemplation of the Tao, which for him took
the place of the Christ, wdio had not then come. He saw the
promise, greeted it from afar, and confessed himself a stranger
and a pilgrim on the earth."

What he meant by the Tao we will consider very soon
(the word lufinity will serve our purpose for the moment), but
there were elements in his loneliness which made it unique as
regards China, and other lands too. As far as we can gather,
he had no special disciple during his lifetime ; the Taoist cult
which has claimed him as founder has certainly never grasped
or embodied his teaching, substituting a system of alchemy, of
search for the elixir of life, of magic and mystery, of demon-
driving and hocus-pocus ; his numerous Chinese commentators
have grasped but the "skin and hairs" (as the Chinese phrase
goes) of isolated passages, they have not seen into his heart ;

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus* 71

and what concerns the West most, he cannot be said to have
had one fully sympathetic translator and exponent until the
year 1905.

As to his verbal teaching, which of course was far more
copious than the collection of cryptogrammatic utterances of his
book, he says :

It is easy to comprehend my teachings and to put them
into practice. Yet there is no one in the world who seems able
either to comprehend or to practise them. Words have an
ancestor; affairs a ruler (which may almost mean "My
madness has a method " ) , but because this knowledge is
lacking I am unknown. Those who understand me are few . . .
Hence the Sage dresses in coarse robes while hiding a jewel in
his bosom. (LXX) .

Then with any work of genius, as Carl Vosmaer has said :
**One must surrender one's self by its influence, no buts, no
obstinacy, no self-conceit ; it must be a free frank surrender, or
the beautiful refuses to be grasped. " And Lao Tzu requires far
more self-abandonment and intuitive sympathy in the translator
than most have been prepared to give him. In his book "we
have but the higher peaks of a submerged continent, not the
entire map of the old Mystic's scheme. The thought of the
book is a buried thought, the connections of the sentences
spiritual rather than grammatical," says his latest interpreter
and ''disciple ".

Europe's first knowledge of Lao TzQ's work was derived
from the Latin versions of the Jesuit fathers (Couplet, 1667 ;
Du Halde, 1736 ; Premaire, 1808), but he would probably have
rejected his Western translators as well as his Chinese comment-
ators, and preferred to remain comparatively unknown until he
found one who could enter into the depths of his mind and
heart. Various sinologues have produced translations of Lao
Tzu — the list of books, or important articles upon his work,
besides Latin versions, totals up to fourteen French, thirteen
German, one Dutch, one Russian, and about thirty-five English ;
Legge, Balfour, Giles, Cams, Kingsmill, Maclagan, and Old,
being the chief translators in the latter language. But it has
been reserved for Mr. Spurgeon Medhurst to produce a transla-
tion with notes that comes near to entirely satisfying those who
have most desired to understand Lao Tzu. In those notes the
world of literature — from the Bhagavad Gita to Thomas h
Kempis, from Emerson to Herbert Spencer, from Chinese
authors to the New Testament, from mediaeval mystics to

72 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

modern theosophists — seems to have been ransacked for illumi-
native quotations. And the translator puts forth his work not
so much as "a specimen of scholarship as the humble offering
of a disciple ", who seeks to " distribute to others some of the
quiet peace which the study of Lao Tzu has brought to him-
self". Here surely is an absorption in the work, and a
surrender of soul to its message, a price paid by one who has
been " for twenty years a missionary in China " which — what-
ever we may think of the personal cost to the translator — ought
surely to produce an interpretation which would satisfy Lao
Tzu himself.

Mr. Medhurst's book is one to be safely recommended to all
except (may we say ?) amateur theosophists on the one hand,
and professional heresy-hunters on the other. It will still need
study and the power to systematise, on the part of the reader,
but will be likely to become a treasured hand-book, serving,
among other things, to increase his reverence for "a greater
than Lao Tzu '\

An ancient disciple of Confucius, who wrote the classic of
the Golden Mean, says of an enlightened sovereign : *' He sets
his institutions up before heaven and earth, and finds nothing
in them contrary to their mode of operation . . . He is prepared
to wait for the rise of a sage, a hundred years after, with no
misgivings (xxix, 3) and Emerson says : '' Let the soul be
assured that somewhere in the universe it should rejoin its
friend, and it would be content and cheerful alone for a
thousand years" (''Friendship"). Lao Tzu has waited 2,500
years, but seems to have found his friend and interpreter at last,
in the person of an Englishman. And the very fact of the long
waiting adds one more element of sublimity to the personality
whose opening sentence has sounded down the ages like the
distant booming of the great bell of eternity : —

Tao k'o iao feich'ayig Tao ; Mitig k'o ming fei ch'a7ig Ming.
The Tao which can be expressed is not the unchanj^^ing Tao ;
The Name which can be named is not the unchanging Name.

Confucius is comparatively easy to translate, and to trans-
late him is to interpret him ; his home was among the cities of
men, he deals with the every-day principles of morality in
practice, a morality which consists in the fulfihncnt of earthly
relations, among which the filial relation is supreme ; he
disdains originality and describes himself as "a transmitter, not
a maker". Lao Tzu's lodgment was on the high hills, among

1906.] Lao Tzu Rediviviis. 75

the trees and flowers, overlooking the valleys and rivers ; he
deals with the philosophy of Nature, and with the mystic forces
of unfocussed Infinity. Confucius gave his nation something to
quote ; Lao Tzu gave his nation something to provoke un-
fathomable thought.

Lao Tzu would have agreed with Seneca (Epis. xxxviii)
when he says :

The mind arrives at the highest pitch of human happiness
when it soars aloft, and enters into the privacies of Nature,
tramphng all thit is evil and vulgar under its feet . . . The
scene of all the important actions here below, where we tug and
scuffle for dominion and wealth, is but a wretched point of
earth ; whereas the dominions of the soul above are boundless.
This very contemplation gives us force, liberty, and nourish-
ment ; the mind is there at home, and it has this argument of its
divinity, that it takes delight in what is divine.

Lao Tzu is overawed with an enwrapping Infinity, whose
silent repose and apparent inaction is shot through and through
with mighty forces, and for this infinity and its forces, and its
mode of operation, too, in some passages, he uses the word Tao.
The word is literally ' ' path ' ' whether for the feet, for the
thought, or the character and conduct ; hence it may often be
translated " road ", " way of truth ", " doctrine '* " course of
conduct", "path of virtue". But Lao Tzu uses the word
Tao, either in its highest classical sense as ** the mode of
Heaven's working", — as we should say, ** the path of Provi-
dence " ; or else in his own sense as " the infinite entity of force
in quiescence which is the source and sustenance of all things ".
That is to him " the Tao that cannot he expressed ", and its
Name that which cannot be named. Mr. Medhurst does not
translate the word Tao ; he says that Tao equals x^ but a close
comparison of passages shows this to have been Lao Tzu^s
meaning in the use of the term.

The first sentence of Lao TzQ, then, brings us to the portals
of infinity ; it reminds us that though our outward life is an
accumulation of material facts, the inner source of all our life-
energy stretches forth, vast and boundless, away beyond the
utmost range of our most far-reaching words. And so he
exclaims :

Supreme is the Tao ! All pervasive ; on the left hand and
on the right ; all things depend upon it for life, and it denies
(itself to) none, (xxxiv.)

What is not the Tao soon ends, (xxx.)

74 The Chinese Recorder. r ' 7 [February,

lyike transcient guests music and dainties pass away. The
Tao is insipid and without flavour . . . yet its operations are
interminable, (xxxv.)

The men who are great live with that which is substantial,
they do not stay with that which is superficial ; they abide
with realities, they do not remain with what is showy, (xxxviii.)

Using the word Tao in the sense of " the Way of Heaven "
he says :

The true student hears of the Tao ; he is diligent and
practices it. The average student hears of it ; sometimes he
appears to be attentive, then again he is inattentive. The
half-hearted student hears of it ; he loudly derides it. If it
did not provoke ridicule it would not be worthy of the name —
Tao. (xli.)

(To be co7itm2ted.)

Bishop Westcott on Missions.

IV.

BY REV. ARNOLD FOSTER, L. M. S., HANKOW.

** It is no disloyalty to the past to maintain that the view of the Incarna-
tion which was gained in the 4th or 5th or 13th or i6th century was not
final. Our fathers, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit saw the Truth, but
they did not see all the Truth. And it is, I think, impossible to look at
modern writings without perceiving that the teaching on Christ's Person which
is current in the most reverent schools, falls short in many ways of the living
fulness of the Bible." — Christus Consiuntnator ^ p. 102.

IN one of the most characteristic and suggestive of Bishop
Westcott's books — The Revelatio7i of the Father — a series
of ' Short Lectures on the Titles of the Lord in the Gospel
of St. John' — he opens up, as I believe, depths of meaning in
certain aspects of the person and Divine glory of the Saviour
of the world, which are too often overlooked by Christian
teachers to the great impoverishment of the popular under-
standing of 'Truth as it is in Jesus,' His expositions have a
very important bearing on questions that in one form or another
must be always exercising the minds of missionaries and of all
who reflect upon the faiths, the history, and the moral, spiritual
and religious condition of mankind at large. "We have, we
cannot doubt, still much to learn. The treasures of the Son of
Man are not yet exhausted." '' There is an order in the appre-
hension of the truth. The scope of the Gospel is not grasped
at once. As our thoughts grow we feel its larger lessons. ' '

The preaching of the Incarnation, the setting forth of Jesus
as 'the Christ,' 'the Word' who in the beginning was with

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 75

God and was God, 'the Son' — apart from whom no adequate
meaning can ever attach to the title ' the Father ' as applied to
God — all this was the constant burden of Dr. Westcott' s ministry.
A few extracts from the book referred to above, and supple-
mented by other quotations from others of his writings that deal
with the same questions more fully, will be felt by many of
my readers to throw light on difficulties over which they have
often brooded.

"Every thoughtful reader of the Bible must have been
struck by the importance which is attached to the Divine
names in the different books. When Jacob wrestled with the
angel till the break of day and prevailed, his last prayer to his
heavenly antagonist was, Tell me^ I pray Thee^ Thy name.
When Moses received the commission to deliver Israel from
Egypt, the found his credentials in the new name of God : ' God
spake unto Moses and said unto him : / am the LORD (Jehovah);
and I appeared 2into Abraham^ unto Isaac^ and unto Jacob^ by
the na7ne of God Almighty^ but by my name Jehovah was I not
kyioivn to them.'' When Zechariah looked out beyond the
darkness of the exile and saw the dawning glory of the day
of the Lord, he gathered up in one sentence the consummation
of all hope : ' In that day there shall be one Lord^ a?td His na?ne
one.'* It is indeed not too much to say that the three chief
stages in the History of the Old Testament are characterized in
broad outline by the names under which God was pleased to
make Himself known in each. First He was known as El-
Shaddai^ the God of might, rich in blessing and powerful in
judgment, when He sought to create and cherish in the pa-
triarchs the sense of personal dependence upon a strong helper.
Then He was known 2iS Jehovah^ the Eternal who makes Him-
self known in time, one and unchangeable, when a sacred
people had to be fashioned out of a host of fugitive slaves by
ennobling relationship with an infinite spiritual power. Then
at last He was known as the Loi^ of Hosts, Jehovah Sabdoth^
when the vicissitudes of national life had given to the people
some experience of the wider providential government of the
world."

''The Divine names receive and reflect scattered rays of
heavenly truth as men can bear their effulgence ; and when
they have been set in our spiritual firmament they burn for ever.
Thus each name authoritatively given to God is, so to speak, a
fresh and lasting revelation of His nature. Now in one title

76 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

and now in another we catch glimpses of His ineffable glory.
Each one in turn becomes a beacon to guide us, a pathway of
light traversing the world of thought. And if we would pene-
trate at all to the deeper meanings of Scripture we must watch
heedfully for the interchange of the Divine names in which long
trains of argument or reflection are contained. To take one
example only. Throughout the book of the Psalms there is a
marked contrast between two names — God, Elohim^ the God of
Nature, and the Lord, Jehovah^ the God of the Covenant. When
we bear this in mind familiar words gain a new force. We then
know, and not till then, how it is that David can begin a Psalm
with the stirring words 'The heavens declare the glory of God,'
while his eyes are fixed on the magnificence of creation ; and
how it is that at last, conscious of weakness and sin, he closes it
with a trustful prayer to the Lord, his strength and his
Redeemer."

The aim of the lectures from which I am quoting, is to
show that as under the Old Testament dispensation each of the
names by which God was known and worshipped, was an implicit
revelation of some one aspect of the Divine glory, so in the
New Testament, starting from our Lord's word, ' I am come in
my Father's name,' and viewing all His teaching concern-
ing the Father in the light of His later word ' He that hath
seen Me hath seen the Father,' we are led to find in every
title which our Lord assumes or receives from men a dis-
tinct revelation of some aspect of God's glory. But in the
developing of this purpose, each of these titles is examined
and expounded separately, and it is to this exposition which
Bishop Westcott gives, either in these lectures or elsewhere
in his writings, of the three titles of our Lord — * The
Christ,' 'The Word,' 'the Son '—that I desire now to call
attention. Each contains in itself a wealth of meaning, a fund
of consolation, a revelation of glory which is not found in any
one of the three taken alone. If in our presentation of the
Gospel to our own minds or to the minds of any who are
capable of receiving more than the most rudimentary conception
of 'Truth in Jesus,' we use these various titles indiscriminately,
as all having about the same general meaning, we get only a
one-sided and altogether inadequate view of the Gospel. Still
more is this the case if for all three titles, we habitually substi-
tute the human name of our Lord, i.e., 'Jesus,' as if that were
in itself a sufficient designation for Him. The present paper

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 11

will be almost entirely taken up with a transcription of what
Dr. Westcott says on the title ' the Christ. ' The other two
titles will be dealt with in a subsequent paper or papers.

"II is remarkable that the title ' Messiah ' (' Christ ') which
the Lord first definitely accepted as describing His ofiice,
belonged in this sense especially to the post-Biblical age. In
the Scriptures of the Old Testament the title of 'the Messiah/
* the Christ,' ' the Anointed ' had a wide application, but it was
not the special title of the promised Deliverer. It marked
generally one who had been endowed with a Divine gift for the
fulfilment of a Divine ofiice. The High Priest and the King
were thus characteristically spoken of as 'the Anointed.' This
wider application of the word Messiah witnesses to a manifold
action of God, fitting men for the accomplishment of His pur-
pose in regard to humanity. All limited ofiices, all partial
endowments of earlier ' Christs ' were so presented as to become
preparatory foreshadowings of 'the Christ,' in whom every
work of prophet, priest and king found complete and harmoni-
ous consummation.*

"The force of the title [the Christ] is seen most clearly
when it is contrasted with that of ' the Word ' which St. John
himself chooses to express his own thought. By speaking of
the Lord as ' the W^ord, ' the ' Logos, ' he opens to us such a
view as we are able to bear of the diversity of Persons in the
timeless, absolute existence of the Godhead ; he teaches us to
regard all creation as springing directly from the Divine will
and all life as centreing in the Divine presence : he encourages us
to embrace the great truth that in all ages and in all lands God
holds converse with His children, and that through all darkness
and all desolation a light shineth which lighteneth every man.

" This title ' the Word' presents the Person of the Lord to
us, if I may so express it, spiritually, as corresponding to the
highest thoughts of man, from its Divine side. The title, the
Messiah^ 'the Christ,' gives the <?on verse picture, and presents
the Person of the Lord to us historically, as corresponding to
the outward life of man, from its human side. ' The Word '
describes One who is co-eternal and co-essential with God ; ' the
Christ ' describes One who has been invested by God with a
special character. The conception of ' the W^ord ' rises beyond

♦The use of the term ' the Christ ' in the O. T. is worked out at length
in Bishop Westcott's edition of the Epistles of St. John in a separate note
on Chapter v. i.

7Z The Chinese Recorder. [February,

time; the conception of ^ the Christ' is definitely realized in
time. The doctrine of ' the Word ' answers in a certain sense
to the very constitution of man and belongs to all humanity ;
the doctrine of the Christ is slowly shaped by revelation and
belongs to the chosen people.

"But while we recognize, and dwell upon, and strive to
give a practical reality to these differences, we must remember
that the two natures, the two conceptions, the two doctrines
are reconciled and fulfilled in one Person. They stand side
by side in the first confession of personal faith which St. John
Las recorded — when Nathanael said to Him who had read his
inmost thoughts: 'Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art
King of Israel ' ; and they are united for ever in the one phrase
in which the evangelist sums up our Creed : ' The Word
became flesh.'

"Bearing this in mind we can now turn our thoughts to
the familiar title 'Christ.' The doctrine of the Messiah, the
Christ, the Anointed One was, as I have said, wrought out little
by little in many parts and in many fashions under the Old
Covenant. And it is in this fact that we find the most precious
lesson which the doctrine still contains for us. If the thought of
Christ, as the Word, fills us with courage, the thought of the
Word as Christ fills us with patience. It cannot have been for
nothing that God was pleased to disclose His counsels, fragment
by fragment,* through long intervals of silence and disappoint-
ment and disaster. In that slow preparation for the perfect
revelation of Himself to men, which was most inadequately
apprehended till it was finally given, we discern the pattern of
His ways. As it was in the case of the first Advent, even so
now He is guiding the course of the world to the second Advent.
We can see enough in the past, to find a vantage ground for
faith ; and, when the night is deepest and all sight fails, shall we
not still 'endure,* like the men of old time, 'as seeing the
invisible ' ?

"This priceless lesson of Divine patience which flows from
the scriptural revelation of the Christ cannot, I think, be missed
if we bear in mind the epochs and the general character of the rare
and dark Messianic prophecies. By combining isolated passages
of the Old Testament we commonly get a very false impression
of the extent to which the hope of a personal Messiah is spread
through them. By throwing back the light of the Truth which

* Hebrew i. i.

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 79

we know, upon dark riddles, we dissipate the mystery in which
they were at first shrouded. For indeed the teaching of the
Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets in this respect is strangely
dififerent from what we should have expected. A few scattered
hints here and there are sufiicient to witness to the continuity of
the Divine purpose, but not to display it ; promises suited to
support faith but not to satisfy it ; types intelligible only as they
answered to real cravings of the soul ; such were the means by
which God disciplined His ancient people for the coming
Saviour ; such are the means by which He disciplines us.

**This will be clear if we recall in briefest outline the
history of the Old Testament. The first distinct intimation of
future blessing for mankind is found in the call of Abraham,
for the dim, general prospect of victory, opened after the record
of the Fall, cannot come into account here. That call is the
starting point of the history of the Church, through which, as
time flows on, God is pleased to make Himself known. In
Abraham a people was marked out to stand among the nations
of the world as representatives of faith in a present accessible
God. The sign by which it was sealed was self-sacrifice. This
primal revelation made to Abraham was solemnly repeated to
Isaac and to Jacob. And these patriarchs, contented to remain
strangers and pilgrims in a land which they knew to be their
own by a heavenly title, * looked for the city which hath the
foundations,' and so fulfilled their work.

* ' The age of the patriarchs was followed by the age of the
Law. A bondage of two hundred years uncheered, as far as we
know, and unenlightened by any fresh promise, could not destroy
altogether what had been taught to Israel by God's covenant
with their fathers. A nation had grown up, to whom the
name of the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob was still a
spell of sacred power. But when they received the Law, they
received as yet no clear revelation of a personal Saviour. They
were indeed to look for a prophet? some greater Moses, who
should teach what Moses had left unsaid, but they were them-
selves to be the messengers of God, and God Himself was to be
their king. In them all the nations of the earth were to find
blessing, that is, in the obedience, the purity, the faith, which
were the springs of their common life.

' ' We all know the sad story of the Jewish Theocracy.
The law made clear the weakness and the sinfulness of man.
The people refused to rest under the protection of an unseen

80 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

Ruler. In terrible reverses, in signal victories, they realized
the anger and the mercy of Jehovah ; but as they did so, they
came to feel the need of some one who should stand between
them and that supreme Majesty. They asked for an earthly
king. The function of the Messianic nation,* so to speak, was
devolved on a personal Messiah. The age of the law was
followed by the age of the kingdom.

*' At this point then, the Divine promises take a new form.
The blessing which had before been connected with a people
was now connected with a Prince. The reign of David created
new hopes which it could not fulfil. The service of the
fixed Temple, which naturally followed, brought the ojHices and
the thoughts of religion into nearer connexion with civil life.
Men felt, by the help of these earthly images, as they had not
done before, the power of a divine government and a divine
presence. And the Holy Spirit speaking, through the prophets
used these symbols to give distinctness to their pictures of the
future triumph of Jehovah. The very name Messiahf — the
Lord's Anointed — which was now used in this sense for the first
time, was the common title of the temporal monarch. And so
the glory which was assured to the seed of Abraham was at
length concentrated in a Son of David.

*'The Jewish kingdom was not more stable than the
Jewish Theocracy, The first conquests of David were lost. The
peaceful sovereignty of Solomon was transitory. Idolatry was
established under the shadow of the Temple. But the people
had seen the figure of a divine, monarchy and never lost what
that had taught them. Soon, however, tyranny, disaster,
defeat, captivity, taught them yet more. The spiritual aspect
of the bright future to which they looked became more prom-
inent. The great Deliverer was portrayed not only under the
guise of the Son of David, who should reign for ever in majesty,
but also as the servant of God, ' without form or comeliness,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 'J Messiah, the
Son of David, was at last regarded as Messiah, the Son of Man.

' ' With this last revelation the inspired prophecies of Messiah
the Prophet, the King, the Priest came to an end. Hope, as

* [Cp. Ps. 105. 15. Hab. 3. 13.]

t Ps. 2. 2. [Cp. • The Psalms translated with Notes ' by Dr. R. G.
King. "If God can say 'Israel is My son, My first-born (Ex. iv. 22) the
Christian need not fear to confess that the Messianic psalms have a relation to
Israel as well as to Christ ; indeed the application to Christ ^vill often best be
seen by first considering the application to the Messiah-nation,']

X Isaiah 53. 2, 3.

1906,] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 81

we see, was gradually concentrated and intensified. Nothing
was lost which the past had ever promised, but the sum of all
fell infinitely short of that which God was preparing. And
then for about four hundred years the Jews were left to ponder
over the divine teaching which they had received, unaided by
any further voices from heaven. As they listened to the word
during that dreary interval the past became more clear to simple
and loving hearts ; but at the same time it was not so clear that
selfishness could not misread it.

** We see the end of this discipline of two thousand years in
the Gospels. Some there were *just and devout who waited
for the consolation of Israel,' like Simeon and Anna ; some, like
Nathanael, who could yield their prejudices to the influence of a
presence recognized as Divine ; some, like St. Andrew and St.
John, who could at once follow Him who was made known to
them as * the Lamb of God,' as the fulfiller of mysterious
thoughts stirred by the teaching of sacrifice ; some, like Martha,
who in the bitterness of bereavement could still say to Plim, who
had seemed to disregard her prayer: *I have believed' — yea I
still believe — 'that Thou art the Christ the Son of God which
should come into the world. *

** And on the other side there were those who had suffered
their own fancies to rise like a cloud between them and the
vision of God's love : those who would thrust aside what yet
they could not but honour, because it did not fall in with their
own wishes ; a Herod who could look on Christ as a spectacle ;
a Caiaphas who could offer Him as a sacrifice for political
safety ; a Judas who could betray him, as it seems, to hasten
the accomplishment of his selfish ambition.

"The Gospel of St. John, from first to last, is a record of
the conflict between men's thoughts of Christ, and Christ's
revelations of Himself. Partial knowledge, when it was main-
tained by selfishness, was hardened into unbelief ; partial knowl-
edge, when it was inspired by love,»was quickened into Faith.

*'The Son of Man came to fulfil all the teaching of past
history, to illuminate all the teaching of future history ; and
therefore He first revealed Himself by this title ^Christ,' the
seal of the fulfilment of the Divine will through the slow
processes of life.

*' And all this is * written for our learning.' By that title
* Christ,' if we will give heed to it, God teaches us to find the
true meaning of history; by that title so slowly defined, so

82 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

variously interpreted, so gloriously fulfilled, He teaches us at
all times, and in these times, to wait, to watch, and to hope.

* ' By that title * Christ ^ God teaches us to wait. * I believe
in one Lord Jesus Christ .... who shall come again with
glory . . . . ' That is our profession ; but do we attach any
real significance to the word ? Do we not rather assume that
all things will go on as they have gone on for eighteen hundred
years ? And yet are not these centuries as full of Divine warn-
ings, of signs of judgment, of movements towards a kingdom of
Heaven, as the ages which preceded the first Advent ? Without
hasting, without resting, let us move forward with our faces
toward the light to meet the Lord. ' In your patience ye shall
win your souls ; ' here is His promise.

* ' By that title ' Christ ' God teaches us to watch. There
is the danger now which there was in old time, lest we mistake
the reflection of our own imaginings for the shape of God's
promises. We see a little and forthwith we are tempted to
make it all. We yield to the temptation, and become blind to
the larger designs of Providence. . . . Our faith, our wisdom,
our safety, lie in keeping ourselves open to every sign of His
coming, and then that last lightning flash will reveal to us work-
ings of His about us, influences of His within us, which we
could not have been able, could not have dared to recognize
before.

"For once again, by that title 'Christ,' God teaches us to
hope. It is the pledge of His personal love shown through all
the ages. It is the pledge of the final establishment of His
Kingdom, of which the sure foundations are already laid. False
hopes, selfish fancies, earthly ambitions were scattered by Christ's
first coming. But He brought that into the world which gives
their only reality to all the emblems of power. ' Thy throne,
O God, is ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre
of Thy Kingdom.' Life, if we look at it in Christ, is trans-
figured ; death, if we look at it in Christ, is conquered. When
.we interpret what He has done through the Church in pre-
paration for His second Coming, by the light of what He did
through Israel in preparation for His first Coming, we can wait
and watch and hope, certain of this in all checks and storms
and griefs that He shall reign ' till all enemies are put under
His feet.'

"This and far more than this, which I cannot strive to
express, which I cannot hope to understand, lies in that one

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 85

word 'Christ.* That one word is a historic Gospel hallowing
all time. We may grasp but little of its meaning, but if we hold
humbly, firmly, lovingly, with a sense of our own great need,
what we do know, Christ will reveal Himself to us even as He
did aforetime through our imperfect knowledge. ' '

Such are some of the thoughts that Bishop Westcott dwells
on in his exposition of the term ' the Christ * which I have
quoted from one of his books. There is, I am persuaded, much
other teaching, some of which he refers to or hints at elsewhere
that we may all discern for ourselves if we follow out prayer-
fully, and with the Scriptures in our hands, the words of our
Lord Himself and of His apostles that bear upon His Messiah-
ship ; much teaching in the title ' the Christ ' which is commonly
almost entirely overlooked. Dr. Westcott in his preface to Dr.
Hort's ist Ep. of St. Peter, speaks approvingly of his friend's
' sharp condemnation of the dream of a Christianity without
Judaism, which though it could make appeal to a genuine zeal for
the purity of the Gospel, was in effect an abnegation of Apostolic
Christianity.' The 'Christianity without Judaism' which Dr.
Hort deprecated was not, as any one who has studied his
Judaistic Christianity knows, a Christianity in which purely
Jewish ceremonies were discarded, and commands of God that
had been given only as ad interim rules of conduct to the Jews,
were no longer quoted as of binding obligation on Christians.
What he deprecated was a Christianity that either claimed a philo-
sophical basis independent of Judaism, or that on the other hand,
denied to Gentile converts their full share in the inheritance of
God's ancient people. "Endlessly misinterpreted and misused
as the Old Testament has been in all ages, its mere presence
at the head of the sacred book of the Church has remained
throughout a priceless safeguard against the tendency to falsify
Christianity by detaching it from the history of the Divine
office of the earlier Israel. From that erroneous point of view
Judaism and Christianity are two distinct religions. . . . Accord-
ing to the apostles on the other hand, the faith of Christians is
but the ripening and perfection of the Old Covenant, and the
Church or assembly of Christians is but the expansion of the
original Israel of God, constituted by faith in Him who was
Israel's Messiah,"*

"To Israel belongs our Lord's primary title of Christ or
Messiah ; this original relation to Israel is the starting point of

*HoTVsJudaisHc Christianity, pp. 4, 5.

84 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

His relation to mankind generally, and His universal church
does not supersede Israel, but is its expansion."*

In another paper, I propose to say something of Dr. West-
cott's teaching on our Lord's title ' The Word ' and on the work
of * the Word, ' even where the name of Christ has not been
named.

Some Recent Contributions to Theological
Literature.t

I SUPPOSE we all find it more difficult on the mission field
than at home to keep up our reading, for a variety of
obvious reasons. Not only is it more difficult to hear of
good books, and to obtain them, but also at home one is incited
to read by the fact that others round about are reading. Again,
if one is a preacher or teacher at home one's hearers
demand that their teacher shall know what is being written
on important subjects. In the mission field it is otherwise. By
mere recourse to knowledge previously acquired one can keep
in advance of the attainments of at least the majority of those
to whom we minister.

Yet it is important to keep up one's reading. A minor
reason is that we shall make a better impression when we are
at home on furlough if we are up to date in our reading. Again,
in the mission field, if one is to keep abreast of the thought
of the day at all, one must do it by reading. At home one
can learn a certain amount from sermons, addresses, lectures,
conversation, etc. ; in the mission field one is largely cut off
from these advantages. If we fail to read, our capacity for
thought, through lack of stimulant, will tend to diminish, and
our minds, through running in the grooves of past knowledge,
will tend to lose flexibility. But there is another reason for
keeping up reading, perhaps the most important of all. At
home, if we do not ourselves read, others will do so, and the
church will not materially suffer. In the mission field we
are in a position of greater responsibility. The church in
China is young, rapidly growing in its formative period. Do
we not owe it to the church to communicate to it the best

* 1st Epistle of St. Peter, 2. 6.

t Address given at a meeting in connection with the library at Moh-kan-shan.

1906.] Some Recent Contributions to Theological Literature. 85

thought of the home lands where the church is stronger ? If
we do not do it who will take our place ? Wc are the repre-
sentatives to the Chinese of the long established churches with
their stores of experience and knowledge.

I propose to confine myself to books of a theological
character, and shall mention three lines of thought along which
our reading might profitably run, bringing forward one or two
interesting books relating to each of these subjects.

Enquiry has in the last few years been directed to discover
more accurately the conditions and circumstances under which
the men and women of Bible times lived. For example the
records and monuments of Palestine, Egypt, Assyria, and
Babylon are being discovered and deciphered, and compared
with the Biblical narrative, that we may have a truer under-
standing of the latter in its original setting. Again, every
scrap of literature that can throw a ray of light upon Jewish
life at the time of Christ has been subjected to minute scrutiny,
so that we are now able to understand and to picture the earthly
life of Jesus perhaps better than any age since that of the
Apostles. One of those who have contributed most to our
undersla^iding of the conditions of life in the Apostolic age is
Professor William Ramsay, of Aberdeen. His interest in the
study of the New Testament was greatly quickened by a careful
study of the Book of the Acts in relation to contemporary
secular history. He was at first inclined to regard the Acts
as a second century composition of little historical importance,
but as he studied it his opinion altered, and he came to regard
it as an historical document of the first rank. All Professor
Ramsay's books on New Testament subjects are unusually
suggestive and are written in a fresh unconventional style,
which enhances the pleasure of reading them. Perhaps the
one of most general interest is ''St. Paul, the Traveller and
Roman Citizen." It would take too long to attempt even
a brief summary of this illuminating book. Let me mention
only two matters, in regard to which Ramsay gives his readers
new light. Until recently it was practically unanimously held
that the churches of Galatia were certain churches in Ancyra and
other places, whose founding is not mentioned in the Book of the
Acts. Another suggestion had indeed been made, namely, that
the Galatians to whom St. Paul wrote his Epistle were the
Christians of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe ; but the
question was, Were these towns in Galatia ? and it was generally

86 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

answered in the negative. Ramsay, however, has gone far to
prove that these towns were included at that time within the
Roman province of Galatia. If you have not done so before,
read the story of the Acts and the Epistle to the Galatians
from the standpoint that the latter was written to the Christians
of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, and see if it does not
add interest and suggestion to your reading. Another fruitful
idea is the influence which St. Paul's Roman citizenship had
upon his life and thought. Ramsay holds that Paul made use of
the Roman organisation to facilitate the spread of the Gospel,
that he conceived the idea of evangelising the Roman Empire,
and that that great Empire had a profound influence upon his
conception of the Kingdom of God. For us who are working
in another great heathen empire suggestions such as these are
particularly valuable and stimulating. Amongst other books
which Professor Ramsay has written are Commentaries on the
Epistles to the Galatians and Corinthians, and quite recently a
Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches.

But now to pass on to the second line of thought, namely,
the restatement of theology. A period of transition of thought,
such as that through which our age has passed, must inevitably
lead to new modes of expression. Old questions have again
been raised, and must be answered anew, not in the dogmas of
a past age so much as in the language of the present. Each
age has its own idioms, so to speak. Just as it is vain to
attempt to convey one's meaning intelligently to a Chinaman
if one does not know the idiom of his language, so it is vain to
attempt to convey theological truth to a modern mind by using
the idiom of a bygone day. It is not that the truth which the
dogma expresses alters ; the change is only one of expression.
Is not the reason of the great popularity of Henry Drummond's
writings that they express truth freshly in terms with which
the modern mind is familiar ?

Now the first step towards a new expression of our faith is
a thorough understanding of the theology of the Bible. The
Bible is the spring whence comes all our knowledge of heavenly
truth. Let me mention in connection with this subject the
name of one writer, whose authority is unquestioned, the late
Professor A. B. Davidson. He was very retiring and very
modest, and during his life-time published little, concentrating
his energies upon his lecture class. But his students knew him
to be a master of the Old Testament, one who had so imbibed

1906.] Some Recent Contributions to Theological Literature. 87

the spirit of the prophets that at times he seemed to be one of
them as he spoke out and interpreted their message. Since his
death such materials as were at hand were collated and have
been issued in book form. The most important of these books
are two : one on Old Testament Theology, the other on Old
Testament Prophecy. On a first reading they may seem a little
disappointing, and doubtless they have suffered from the fact
that they have not been compiled by Professor Davidson himself,
3^et go back to them and ponder them, and you will find, as one
of his old students has said, "a wealth of mature and refined
thinking wdiich you will not easily exhaust." The same might
be said of the two volumes of sermons by Professor Davidson
which have been issued, namely, the Called of God, and
Waiting upon God. I have read few sermons more profoundly
suggestive than these.

I should like to mention two other books on theology,
which are important as giving expression in modern terminology
to the personal faith of their writers. The one is by the Rev.
W. L. Walker, a minister of the Congregational Church in
Scotland. Mr. Walker has had an interesting religious experi-
ence, characteristic of the unrest of many earnest minds at the
present day. After beginning work as a Congregational minis-
ter, he was attracted by Unitarianism, thought that he had
found in it the true Gospel for men, and began to preach
Unitarian doctrine. He found, however, that the results of his
preaching were barren. His message did not seem to be effec-
tive in redeeming men. He resolved therefore to enter upon
a fresh study of the New Testament to sec where the expansive
power of the infant church lay. He found that it lay in what
the New Testament calls the Coming of the Spirit. Closer
study led him to see that the Unitarian position does not explain
the Coming of the Spirit, and slowly and painfully he worked
his way back to the evangelical position. He gives the result
of his thinking in a book entitled "The Spirit and the
Incarnation. ' ' The first part of the book is largely a study of
the Holy Spirit, the second part a study of the Person of Christ
and of the Incarnation. The closing chapters discuss the prac-
tical application to the church of to-day of the Coming of the
Spirit. The other book I shall mention is a smaller and more
recent work called "The Faith of a Christian." It, too, is an
expression in modern language of the personal faith of the
writer. I have heard that the author, who writes anonymously,

SS The Chinese Recorder. [February,

is a missionary in India. The chapters of the book are as
follows : Man's Knowledge of God ; The Relation of God to the
Universe ; The Problem of Moral Evil ; The Ideal Man ; The
Restoration of Man ; Conversion to Type ; The Theory of
the Trinity ; and The Ideal Kingdom. The title, Conversion
to Type, is an instance of what I mean by modern langnage.
Reversion to type is a scientific phrase, and the author calls
his chapter Conversion to Type.

I hardly know what to call the third line of thought which
I wish to mention, unless it be the Development of Missionary
Science. In other sciences laws and principles are deduced
from the facts of experience. Now in connection with the
enterprise of missions there is already a vast array of experimen-
tal facts ready to hand, and it would seem to be time to set
apart men to study them with a view to deducing from them
missionary principles. I suppose Professor Warneck's name is
known to all. He is now an old man, but carries on his missionary
lectures in the University of Halle with unabated enthusiasm.
He has published the results of years of arduous study of missions
in his important work Die Evangelische Missions-lehre. It is a
comprehensive survey of the whole subject of foreign missions.
Germany has not sent out so many missionaries as some other
countries, but Germany has been the first country to appoint
a professor to give his whole time to the study of missions,
and the first to issue a comprehensive work taking up the
missionary enterprise in all its aspects. Part of the development
of missionary science must necessarily be a study of the great
missionary epochs of the past, especially of the expansion of
Christianity in the first three centuries. A book has recently
been issued on that subject by perhaps the most learned and
brilliant church historian living, Professor Adolf Harnack, of
Berlin. It is true that one chapter of the book attempts to
show that missions never came within the horizon of Jesus, but
were an after-thought of the Apostles, or rather a necessity
urged upon them by the expansion of the church. It is not
necessary, however, to agree with any such opinion, and it would
be a pity to ignore this book with its masterly historical survey
of the spread of Christianity because it contanis a chapter of
this kind.

In conclusion let me mention two books which ought to be
specially useful to us as teachers of others. They are "Christian
Character," by lUingworth, and *' Pastor Pastorum," by Latham.

1906.] " The Term Question." 89

The former is a very suggestive discussion of the essential
features of Christian character, the latter (an older book) is an
illuminative exposition of the methods used by Jesus Christ in
training His own disciples. One other book, which is a
library in itself, I need hardly recommend, as we all must know
it, at least by report ; I mean Hastings' Bible Dictionary, which
represents the best knowledge of the day upon all subjects in
the Bible. It is indeed a treasure house for the missionary. I
might say of it what Dr. Whyte, of Edinburgh, said on another
book, If you have not got it, sell your bed and buy it.

List of Books reco??ime7ided.

The Spirit and the

Incarnation by W. L/. Walker, 95.^

Old Testament Theology ^

Old Testament Prophecv I by A. B. Davidson, los. 6d.
The Called of God ' j 6s.

Waiting npon God J 6s.

Hastings' Bible Dictionary (5 vols.), 2Ss. per vol.

St. Paul the Traveller | , ttt ,, r) c^ S Hodder and Stoughton,

and Roman Citizen [ by W. M. Ramsay, los. 6d j London.

Christian Character . bv J.R.Illingworth, 7s.6d, / tvto^«,;iio« Rr n^
The Faith of a Christian by A. Disciple, 6d. [ Macmillan & Co,

Pastor Pastorum by Latham, 6s. 6d. \ ^eighton Bell & Co.,

•^ ' ( Cambridge, England.

Evangelische Missions- ) , , ttt ^„^„, ( Friedrich Andreas Per-

lehre ^ by Warneck ^ | thes, Gotha, Germany.

The Expansion of Chris-1 ,, , . i, -., «• ^.v ^^
tianity (2 vols.), hy ^'^^^^^''^^^^^^^^^
Adolf Harnack 10s. 6d. each \

By T. & T. Clark, Edin-
burgh.

"The Term Question."

I HAVE read with much interest the article by **S.'' in
the November Recorder on the above subject. I am in
full sympathy with him in his suggestion as to the use
of Jehovah in Chinese versions wherever it occurs in the Hebrew
Scriptures. It is the name chosen by God Himself and should
be retained in every translation.

I am also in full accord with him in his desire for union.
But real and true union can only be secured when it is based
on sound principles — compromise of truth only ends in worse
confusion. This is amply shown by what S. says regarding
Shang-ti (J: ♦j^) *, " it is a term imbedded in idolatry." Much
time and erudition has been spent in the attempt to show that
in ancient times the Chinese were a monetheistic people and

90 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

worshipped God under the title "Shang-ti." Granting what
has not been, and cannot be, proven, it has no bearing on the
question to-day, which is. Do the Chinese now attach such
ideas to the name as render it suitable for translating Elohini
(Q^n^^i^) and Theos (^co?) ? Facts are against any such conclu-
sion ; instead, it has fallen into the same category as Baal
(meaning Lord, my Lord) once applied to God, but later
prohibited from such use because it had been prostituted to the
name of an idol ; ''Thou shalt call me no more Baali." Hosea
ii. 16-17. Self existence and creatorship, specially referred to
in Isaiah xlii. 8 and xlviii. 11 (see connection) '*My glory will
I not give to another," are never mentioned in connection with
any Shang-ti. To illustrate: ''In the winter of 1844-5 ^
missionary living in a Taoist monastery at Ningpo, where was
an idol called Shang-ti, notwithstanding explanations and
expostulations, was constantly pointed out by the priests to the
devout Chinese worshippers as a fellow-worshipper of their
idol, and on its birthday received a special card of invitation
* to be present with offerings, ' as being a devout worshipper
from afar.'*

Again, "in the winter of 1845-6, when almost all the
missionaries were using Shang-ti, an inquirer presented himself
to a missionary at Shanghai, and was taken under instruction
as a candidate for baptism. The missionary impressed upon
him the importance of daily prayer to God (Shang-ti); but
what was his grief, after some three weeks had elapsed, to find
that his inquirer had so misapprehended what w^as intended by the
missionary's exhortations to worship Shang-ti that he had for
three weeks been going daily to worship an idol in a temple
in the city, supposing it to be the Shang-ti meant by the
missionary." An advocate of Shang-ti, writing in the sixties
in defence of the term, makes the admission that it is a ^''fact
that when Shang-ti is used in preaching, if it is not explained
as not referring to Yii Hwang many people who have not been
taught better will suppose that it does refer to him ; " and he con-
firms his own experience by the testimony of a " native preacher
of good abilities who has preached the Gospel to his countrymen
for six years." A number of years ago two missionaries went to
a temple of Kwan-ti to witness the start of the procession which
escorted him on his annual round through the city. While
waiting for the procession to start they occupied the time in
preaching. As one of them urged the worship of, and repentance

1906.] " The Term Question." 91

towards Shang-ti, some in the crowd replied that they worship-
ped Shang-ti. **But I preach the true Shang-ti, not the one
you worship ; " to which they answered, "It is all the same, we
also worship the true Shang-ti " ; and no amount of explanation
made any difference in their opinion. Seeing this the other
missionary went to another part of the court and began preach-
ing, using the term Shen (ipif). The question was soon asked,
* ' What Shen do you mean ? " to which it was easy to reply, * ' the
Creator of heaven, earth and all things, the self-existent,
omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, the One living and true
Shen." *'That is good," they said ; "tell us more," and there
was no further interruption. Such incidents and facts — and
they could easily be multiplied — illustrate the confusion which
will always attend the use of the name of an idol — of a heathen
divinity — to represent God. More, it is teaching untruth.

Shang-ti stands at the head of the nature cult, which is
first among the systems of worship in China, and is the
equivalent of, and interchangeable with, T'ien, Heaven
(5c)- It is the name of an idol, and the image is found
in temples with the inscription over the door, Shang-ti miao
(45), as I have seen. Every object of worship is an Elohim
(Hebrew) ; a Theos (Greek) ; a God (English) ; a Shen (Chinese).
Shang-ti occupies quite the same position among the Chinese
that Theos did among the Greeks — the highest among many
gods. The Seventy and the Apostles used Theos, not Zeus ;
why should not their example be followed in China? as it was
by the translators of the English Bible. It is the only term
possible for god, gods, prefixing true or false as in English or
Greek would be necessary for clear distinction, but for the capital
letter. Mateer has clearly shown that its essential meaning is
god, gods. It never meant Spirit, save by accommodation or
appropriation, as "god-like," "the divinity within us," in
English. Shen, God, Theos, Elohim, carry with them the idea
of power, spirit-power, spirituality*; hence the ease of degener-
ated thought. Every Shen is a ling ; every god is a spirit ;
every theos is a pneuma {YlvEv/uaj ; every Elohim is a ruach
(tT*n) ; but it is impossible to say the reverse. Hence the
drift now towards clear thought and distinction — towards
Shen for God and Sheng Ling for Holy Spirit — is both a
happy and a hopeful omen making towards union. In view
of the fact, which comes to me on good authority, that
the Korean and Japanese Christians who understand Chinese

92 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

literature and usage have adopted the terms Shen and
Sheng Ling respectively for God and Holy Spirit, would
it not be well for the foreigner to stop trying to legislate ;
study and investigate, get facts and truth, use such terms as
this study indicates are true to the facts and leave the rest to
the Chinese Christians to settle when they become more
thoroughly imbued with the full significance of the Christian
idea of God ? Such study and restraint will be good for us ; it
will bring us nearer together. To this end have I presented
these facts, hoping thereby to incite others to investigate. C.

Church Praise Department.

Note by Composer.

The accompanying tunes are settings of well-known hymns,
specially written for use by Chinese Christians, as, in my opinion, the
melodies generally set to these hymns are not suitable for use here
on account of their containing certain notes difficult to be sung by
the Chinese.

This is especially true of the tune usually sung to the hymn
" Showers of Blessing," which in its second line contains the seventh
of the scale repeated six times. The tune " Gabriel ' is not quite
pentatonic, as it has a seventh in the last line, but as this comes
upon an unaccented note, and is at the close followed by the
keynote, it does not matter.

For the benefit of those who may think it wrong to substitute
new tunes to old favourite hymns, let me point out that the inspira-
tion of the Scriptures does not extend to tunes.

" Showers of Blessing " does not lay claim to great originality.
Part of it resembles our old favourite school song, " Ring the Bell,
Watchman." But it will be found useful and a tune that '* goes,"
perhaps all the better for the old melody being utilised. C. S. C.

SHOWERS OF BLESSING.

•' There shall be showers of blessing:'' C. S. Champnkss.

.ID. Mx 'i^' W If. *n -B li tfi ^- ^ ^ ^- m C!i £l{ -^1 <rt -^

I > ^ I V

1906.]

Church Praise Department.

93

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GLORIA IN CRUCE.

*'/« M^ cro5^ of Christ I glory

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C. S. Champness.

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94

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

GABRIEL.

'*0 could I speak the matchless worth.''*

S-4r "^

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C. S. Champnkss.

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Romish Testimony to Evangelical Effort.

A remarkable testimony to the real worth of the Christian
literature work done by the Religious Tract Society in Japan is
furnished by the English organ of Roman Catholicism, The Tablet.
Father Claudius Ferraud, the director of the Roman Catholic
"Works for Young Men" at Tokio, says :—" The Protestants
flood the country with their reviews and their opuscules, and
one must recognise that it is well due to their works of the press
that ideas of Christianity, unhappily false, have soaked the
Japanese intellect. To-day there is nobody who has not read
something about Christ and His doctrine."

1906.] Educational Department. 95

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

The Shantung Union College. M X ^ ^

(located at weihsien, shantung province.)

THIS college has been formed by a union of the well-
known Tengchow College and the Ching-chow-fu High
School, the former under the care of the American
Presbyterian Mission, and the latter of the English Baptist
Mission. The college is governed by a joint board of six
directors — three from each Mission — and has upon its teaching
staff also two representatives from each of the two missions and
eight Chinese assistants. One hundred and twenty students
are in attendance, all being enrolled in the college classes
proper with six exceptions.

The frontispiece in this issue gives a view of the main build-
ing, which has been lately completed. It is 156 feet long, 38
feet deep at the wings and 22.8 in the centre. It contains class
and study rooms, assembly hall for devotional meetings, and
the chemical, physical and biological laboratories. It is heated
by steam, lighted by electricity, and furnished with a liberal
water supply, largely through the energy, skill and generosity
of Dr. Mateer, w^ho has spared no pains to make this part of the
equipment a success.

In the rear of the main building are dormitory and dining
accommodation for 150 students, the buildings being one story
and in Chinese style, also eight very neat houses for Chinese
teachers and their families. The college possesses an obser-
vatory equipped w^ith a ten-inch equatorially mounted telescope.
There are also the beginnings of a library and reading room,
museum and athletic field.

Three dwellings for foreign members of the faculty have
been completed, and a fourth is planned for.

The names of the foreign members of the faculty, as given
in the Educational Directory, are as follows : —

96 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

Rev. P. D. Bergen, M.A., D.D., president. Department
of Chinese Language and Literature.

Rev. S. Couling, M.A. (Edinburgh.) Department of
Natural Science.

Rev. E. W. Burt, M.A. (Oxford and London.) Department
of History and Philosophy.

Rev. H. W. Luce, B.A. (Yale.) Department of Mathema-
tical Sciences.

The Recognition of the Mission Schools by the
Chinese Government.

BY REV. LINDENMEYER, BASEI. MISSION, KIA-YING-CHOU.

IT was with great interest that I read the very able paper of
Bishop J. W. Bashford, entitled ''The Educational Out-
look in China, '^ which gives an excellent account of the
real state of our school work in China at the present time. The
paper of Dr. Elliot J. Osgood on "The Mission Day-school'*
was still more interesting to me, and I hope all missionaries that
have opened schools will take to heart the most excellent advice
which he gives in this paper. We really have to regulate our
schools according to the national plan of instruction and have to
open such modern schools in every place we may reach. Now
we find everywhere in China the opportunity to do so, and as we
do not know how long it will last, we ought at once to seize it.
** The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few ; pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth
laborers into His harvest."

But as now the Chinese government schools — elementary,
middle, normal and high — are growing up everywhere in the
country I think it is time that we begin strenuously to discuss
the important question : How can we meet the competition of
Chinese state schools and private institutions with our mission
colleges ? Speaking of mission colleges I do not mean so much
the schools and seminaries which prepare students for service in
the church as institutions preparing non-Christians as well as
Christians for secular occupations.

Certainly the first way to overcome this competition is the
advice given by Bishop Bashford to make efforts that our mission

1906.] Educational Department. 97

schools shall always stay on the top in everything. But there
remain two difficulties which will hinder us from attaining this
object.

First, The students in the national and in many of the
private schools need not pay fees and have food free. Most of
our schools are, of course, not in the position to allow them the
same. Thus we will lose many of our students who will prefer
to study without cost.

Except by the better attainments of our schools there will
be only one way to meet with this difficulty, i. e., we must
get more contributions from home. But I think the Chinese
government will change this policy of free instruction as soon as
it gets enough students for its institutions. Thus the students
in the national schools in Tientsin, the standard place for all
reform movements in China to-day, already have to pay fees.

The second difficulty is much greater than the one just
noticed. The national schools give their students security for
being granted degrees and for getting employment in the
government service or elsewhere. Our institutions cannot give
the same security as long as they are not recognized by the
Chinese government. This fact will, of course, withdraw a
good many of the young men. Christians as well as heathens,
from our schools, as most of them anxiously seek for official
recognition and employment in the state service. And for the
sake of the Christianization of China the way to the government
service must be opened to out Christian students. Thus we
see : The recognition of our mission schools by the Chinese
government is the sine qua uon of their prosperity and success
in the future.

Our mission in Kia-ying-chou has opened a middle and
secondary school for non-Christians, as well as Christians,
entirely regulated according to the government's plan of instruc-
tion with the single exception that the Bible is taught in the
place of the *' Ethics," which is prescribed by the government.
From the beginning we have made efforts to obtain recogni-
tion by the government. We were successful, at least in some
measure, so that our institution is registered (j)r ^) by the
Board of Education in Canton and the local mandarin is obliged
to attend the annual examinations. But for the future of
our students, we have as yet no security at all. Applying
to the Viceroy at Canton we got the following answer: *' If
your school in its plan of instruction and in its whole character

98 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

and spirit, is equal to the national institutions and if it will
from time to time be visited and examined by the local
mandarin your students will be allowed to pass the examinations
of the government." This answer was no answer, for we were
as ignorant as before. What does "the whole character and
spirit '* mean ? How may a Christian be the same as a Confucian
school in its whole character and spirit ? No, what we want is
a promissory security in writing that after having finished their
course in our Christian school our students shall be allowed to
take the examinations of the government. And I think that all
missions that have opened such schools also want it and are
working for this aim.

But how shall we attain it ? I think all missions ought
to unite and all together to apply to the Chinese government
for the recognition of their schools. But how is this to be
done ? I think there are two ways by which we might come to
this end : —

1. The Educational Association of China should apply in
the name of all the missions of China to the Chinese government.

2. The different missions, according to their nationalities,
apply to their respective governments, who in their turn should
put the matter before the Chinese government.

Which of these two ways to choose I leave to those to
judge who are more competent than I am. I think it would
be best first to try the one, and if without any result, then
to try the other. I do not think that there will be any hin-
drance on the part of our respective governments, as they them-
selves are very anxious to promote the diffusion of the civiliza-
tion of their countries in China. As the Chinese government
is strictly forbidding any religious instruction and influence
in the national schools, and as we again want a Christian
education for our students, we for the very sake of our Chris-
tians are really forced to open our own colleges, and the
recognition of these mission schools of ours is thus really an
inseparable part of religious liberty in China. For this reason
we may hope that even Japan, which has recognised the mission
schools in her country and which always likes to show her
interest in religious liberty, will go hand in hand with the other
governments in this matter.

In conclusion, I should like to place before you the follow-
ing news in relation to this question, which I saw the other
day in a Chinese paper : —

1906.] Educational Department. 99

" The Educational Board in Peking, on account of the
fact that the mission schools in China have many Chinese
students and are giving them a very thorough education, judges
that these institutions may easily conform to the national plan
of instruction. So it intends, as soon as the ministry of educa-
tion is reformed, to ask the foreign ministers in Peking, through
the Board of Foreign Affairs, to tell the missionaries who have
opened schools that they ought to regulate their schools
according to the government's plan of instruction. They may
differ from it somewhat, but not very much. Then their
students will be examined by the Chinese authorities and
be allowed to enter on the same career as those of the national
schools. ' '

I think this news will be of great interest to us and show
us the way how we may realize our desire. In any case our
schools have to differ in one thing from the national institution,
i.e., that we give our students a religious, a Christian education.
F'or we are not willing to deny Jesus Christ, but what we
fight for, when asking the recognition of our schools, is room
for Him in this country that He may obtain the victory over
the powers of darkness, for the kingdom of this world is to
become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He
shall reign for ever and ever.

Notes.

CHINA New Year with its usual crop of commencement ex-
ercises is here once more. Perhaps the old-style commence-
ment is declining in popularity in the United States, but here
in China it surely takes its place as a valuable institution. It
affords us a better opportunity than anything else we can do to gain
the attention of the educated Chinese and give them a knowledge of
our work. From the student's point of view too it affords excellent
opportunity for practice in addressing a large gathering on a serious
occasion, and a single chance of this kind may well leave its stamp
on a man's whole career.

But perhaps its chief value lies in the fact that it continues the
tradition of honor and dignitj* attached to learning which has done
so much to make our path easy in China. It would be a mistake
for us to surrender any elements of ceremonial and stateliness which
can attach to the occasion. Democracy does not mean the surrender
of dignity as those of us who are American are ready enough to
assert when we inaugurate a president. It does not destroy office or
power or respect for position, but only seeks that the prize shall be
to the worthy. I,et us then throw around learning all the halo of

100 The Chinese Recorder. [February,

dignity which we can command, and at commencement time seek to
impress the imagination as well as to command the respect of guest
and student.

One practical suggestion may be found useful. It has long been
a difficulty of educators that Chinese essays cannot be read, since
the Wen-li is orally unintelligible. Why not substitute then for the
written essay an oration in Mandarin or even the colloquial ? By a
judicious use of antithesis and a literary form of expression the
artistic effect need not be sacrificed, and we may thus assist in
producing what is felt to be needed here, a spoken style not vulgar
and yet understandable.

The Anglo-Chinese College, Shanghai (M. E. C, S.), closed on
January 12th. At this time Dr. A. P. Parker announced his re-
signation from the presidency of the College, in order that he may
engage in other forms of missionary work. He is to be succeeded
by the Rev. J. W. Cline.

A prominent feature of the program was an address by Mr. R. E.
Lewis on " A Lesson of the Time." Mr. Lewis spoke of the relation-
ship between China and foreign nations in a most frank and open way.
He confessed some of the faults of foreigners, and then went on to
warn the Chinese student of the duties demanded of him, and that
he must assume the responsibilities which devolved uppn him if he
wished to assert himself as a part of the brotherhood of man.

Medhurst College of the L. M. S. closed on January 15th. This
school is now but two years old, yet it has its building and grounds
in perfect condition, and its students, who number sevent}^ are divid-
ed into five forms. Its president, Mr. Bevan, spoke of great assist-
ance which had been received from friends during the year and of the
satisfactory^ progress of the institution. The chief speaker was Dr.
Gilbert Reid, who addressed the students in Mandarin in such an
easy and familiar, yet forceful and emphatic style that his lessons
must have sunk deeply in. His subject was the vices w^hich accom-
pany learning — pride, jealousy, and self-assertion, and the virtues
of modesty and self-restraint that distinguish the true scholar.

Another recently established institution in Shanghai is the
Chinese Public School of the foreign municipality. This is a day-
school offering instruction in English and Chinese with a charge of
$30.00 Mexican a year. It has a fine new building, consisting of
recitation rooms and an assembly hall seating 400, but its attend-
ance at present has only reached 130. A plea was made by the
head-master, Mr. Ridge, for all friends to do their best to increase
the attendance. Distinguished guests present were Sir Havilland de
Sausmarez, Judge of the British Court, and H.E. Lu Hai-huan, the
Minister of War. Prizes were conferred and several addresses
made. The chairman. Dr. F. L. Hawks Pott, said in Chinese to
the students that they must not look on a school as a republic where
the governed also ruled, but they must look on it as a family where
the head and masters were the father and mother. Dr. Pott did

1906.]

Correspondence.

101

not mention it in his speech, but report sa\^s there was one school
established in China where the republic form of government was
carried so far that the names of the teachers were posted on the
board with the demerits that they had received from the students.

Our leading article in this department introduces a most import-
ant subject of the present day in an interesting fashion. This, how-
ever, is only the first word to be said on this subject, which can be
viewed in several lights. We hope to follow up this paper, and
would be glad to receive contributions from those who take either
side of the question.

Correspondence.

DISCRIMINATING TERMS.

To the Editor oj

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In the January No.
(1906) of the Recorder, where
** Union " from Two Standpoints
is discussed, there is an assertion
made with reference to the mat-
ter of Terms (see A, p. 21)
which it seems to us is certainly
quite misleading. The writer
says : " None of the terms pro-
posed— Shangti for God, Sheng
Ling for Holy Spirit, Chen
Shen for True God — are without
objections. They are all pol-
luted. They reek with heathen
suggestions."

Now what we object to in this
statement is the placing of Sheng
Ling and Chen Shen in the same
category with Shangti as " pol-
luted terms," reeking " with
heathen suggestions." It is
perfectly true that Shangti and
Sheng Shen " are polluted " and
** reek with heathen sugges-
tions," for these are ready-made
heathen terms used by idolaters
in idolatrous worship only. But
not so with the two other terms
quoted— Sheng Ling and Chen
Shen — which have been compiled
by missionaries to express Chris-

tian truths, and have never been
used, so far as we are aware, by
idolaters in their worship.

These terms ought not there-
fore to be put together in the same
category without discrimination.

There is a term commonly
applied to the local idols (fg fg
jE jpljl) that sounds, in many
places, like Chen Shen, but
which, as seen from the written
character, is different.

A. Sydenstricker.

Chinkiang, January 15, 1906.

WANTED — A paraphrased
BIBI,E.

To the Editor of

" The Chinese Recorder.'*

Dear Sir : The debt which we
interior missionaries owe the
various Bible societies can never
be paid. Through their agency
we are able to purchase finely
printed and handsomely bound
translations of our Scriptures at
a merely nominal figure, and the
good thereby done to the cause
of Christ is incalculable. In the
church we need and prize all
such translations. But the pre-
sent editions, as we receive them
from the press, have their limita-

102

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

tions, and while invaluable to our
native Christians, are not accept-
able to outsiders, and especially
if they be educated men. Our
missionaries here have given
away many taels worth of copies
to the scholars attending the
examination in this city, and in
m.y medical \vork, as I have had
opportunity, I have given copies
to all the officials and educated
men I have visited and treated as
patients, and the result of all
this broadcast distribution of the
Word has, I fear, been very tri-
vial, and just for one simple reason
that the copies we give are literal
translations of a foreign tongue,
and the consequent literary style
CSC fc) is intolerable to the edu-
cated classes. In an old volume
of the Recorder (1897) no less
an authority than Dr. Edkins,
speaking of the Delegates' version,
says: "It is inexceptionable in
style and acceptable to the well
informed Chinese reader." One
is very diffident to deny such a
statement emanating from so dis-
tinguished a sinologue, but every
educated Chinese I have ques-
tioned on the matter has given
an exactly opposite testimony.
The remarks and criticism which
follow are not my own, but are
the testimony of the most highly
educated man in our church. He
says in effect: " We who have
been long in the church have
come to love the Scriptures, but
our taste for them has been
acquired. The style even of the
Delegates' version is altogether
foreign, and I dare not give copies
to my literary friends. Many
copies were given away at the
last examinations and all the
students I came across threw
them aside after reading a few
sentences. One laughingly said
to me ** If I wrote my examina-
tion essay in a style like that I
should never become a hsio-WaV

(^ ^)- Some years ago we
scholars had to study universal
history, and the only book on the
subject was a literal translation of
a foreign work, and the book w^as
consequently thoroughly detest-
ed, but now a native scholar has
paraphrased the meaning and
given it a truly Chinese setting,
and that same book is now a
thing of beauty and will be a joy
for ever. I have read most of
the different editions of the Bible,
and of them all the Delegates'
version must rank highest, and
just for this reason that it is a ^
braver and a bolder translation
than the others, and sometimes
is not afraid to leave the original.
But every page, even of the Dele-
gates' version, is calculated to
offend a native scholar's ear. He
reads for example the first chapter
of John's Gospel, and at the end
of the second verse you hear him
muttering J; |I, for the mean-
ing of the second verse has
already been expressed in the
first. And the two halves of the
third verse are practically iden-
tical, and he will refer to them
as the "vain repetitions of the
foreigners.' ' He turns to another
favourite passage, the fifth chap-
ter of Matthew, and in the second
verse the words gj P have a
similar fault. He says : " How
could He teach them without
opening His mouth ? " And again
in Acts xii. i, # #: KT ^)
H ^ fC t + m fS A. The
characters in brackets are not
wanted. And Christ's oft-recur-
ring phrase, ?Ji K ffi 4^ l/pfj; fl'5>
may be very good Aramaic, but
is very poor Chinese. Every-
where we turn we find such errors
in style. Like a boy's essay
the present editions are full of
g \^ and .?. R, for the
simple reason that they are such
faithful translations. Take the

1906.]

Our Book Table.

103

strange way of expressing rela-
tionships (w iTb ± rt^J 3i ^ 64

an example of impedimenta (^
^). Fifteen characters instead of
eigbt (W ^ ft ft Bl ffl 5i ^)-
The publications of one society
have further the fault of having
no annotations whatsoever. What
is the use of handing books to
outsiders which contain such un-
explained expressions as " eating
locusts," "taking up the cross
and following," " a camel going
through a needle's eye" and
very many others. Instead also
of having four very similar Gos-
pels we want a harmony of the
four, giving consecutively the
life and discourses of Christ. And
we want the whole book boldly
paraphrased by highly educated
Christian natives who under-
stand the sense and can give it
a purely Chinese dress."

This is this native gentleman's
opinion, and he feels the need of
such a book, for he is a ^ ^ and
has constant intercourse with liter-
ary men. As he is unable to write
English I am writing this letter
for him, for I have experienced
something of these difficulties
myself in my own work. We are

to be ** fishers of men," but very
few fish will take the bait we at
present offer them. We must
have our Bible in a more truly
native dress if they are to be
attracted to it. This is not say-
ing a word against the present
translations; they are all wanted,
for they are invaluable to our
native Christians who have be-
come trained to the style. But
I do trust there will be found
someone brave enough to produce
a paraphrased Bible, some man
of high scholastic attainments
who will guide his native helpers
into the full sense and then give
them a free hand how they shall
clothe that sense. Unbind them
and let them go, and the result
will be worth reading. " Be not
given to bibliolatry," said the
greatest of modern preachers ;
"the truth, not the translation,
is inspired," and again in an-
other place, "God has chosen
that His revelation shall accept
the limitations of a book."
I am, Sir,

Yours very truly,
George F. Stooee.

Church of Scotland Mission Hospital,
Ichaug, Hupeh.

Our Book Table.

A Chinese Bible Dictionary, pubhsh-
ed by the Chinese Tract Society.
For sale b}' the Presbyterian Mission
Press. Price |i.oo.

We have often wondered how
our Chinese Christians, with all
their disadvantages, yet manage
to get such an insight into the
sacred Word as they do. It show^s
that the Holy Spirit has been
their supreme teacher and that
no one that leaneth on Him for
light and understanding will be
disappointed. Nevertheless, Com-

mentaries, Concordances and
Bible Dictionaries are just as
indispensable to them as to us.
\^e would all feel very much
handicapped without any of
these helps.

The Chinese Tract Society is
therefore worthy of our warmest
thanks, who has given us this
most needed dictionary, a trans-
lation from the American Tract
Society's able w^ork. This is the
second revised edition.

Doctor and Mrs. Farnham's

104

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

names are a guarantee for the
value of the work.

The illustrations are all very
good, the text in easy Wen-li
and the book has also an English
index. Every missionary and
all otir more advajiced Christia?is
oiighl to have tJiis book.

It is also most suitable to give
away as a prize in theological
schools or as a present to some
valued co-worker. I bought a
copy, intending to give it away
to a Chinese friend, but fell so
in love with it that he will
have to wait till I have secured
another copy.

In conclusion I would quote
the late Mr. Spurgeon's word,
recommending some standard
work :

"If you don't have it, pawm
your coat and buy it."

A. B.

ACKNOWI.EDGMENTS.

Directory of Protestant Mis-
sionaries in China, Japan and
Corea for the year 1906. Ho?ig-
ko7ig Daily Press.

Foreign Missions : a paper read
at the Church Congress, Wey-
mouth, by the Right Rev. J. C.
Hoare, D.D. , Bishop of Victoria.
See reference in Editorial Com-
ment.

The East of Asia. Vol. IV.
Part 4. North- China Daily
News. A review of this attrac-
tive number will appear in next
issue.

Macviillan and Co., Ltd.

Stories from the History of Rome.
By Mrs. Beesly. Price 1/6.

The authoress, believing that it
■was quite possible to put portions of

Livy and Plutarch into language
which should need little or no expla-
nation, even to children of four or six
years old, has selected the stories in
the neat volume before us with a view
to illustrate the two sentiments most
characteristic of Roman manners —
duty to parents and duty to country.

Easy Mathematics, chiefly Arithme-
tic, being a collection of hints to
teachers, parents, self-taught stu-
dents and adults, and containing a
summary or indication of most
things in elementary mathematics
useful to be known. By Sir Oliver
Lodge, F.R.S. Price 4/6.

No more need hardly be added to
the above description, especially see-
ing that the author is alread}' so widely
famed. Many teachers will welcome
this volume, which is bound to effect
an improvement in the method of
teaching. We very much wish that
when we were young there had been
such a lively and interesting exposi-
tion of a study that seemed destitute
of these attractive qualities.

Macmillan's New Globe Readers.
Book V. Price 1/6.

The list of authors includes English,
French, and American writers of
prose and poetry from Drayton in
Queen Elizabeth's days to the present
time. The high character of the
selections is calculated to foster a love
of literature in the scholars using this
book.

The Talisman. Price 1/6.

This abridged edition of Sir Walter
Scott's brilliant story of the third
cru.s'de has been edited, with intro-
duction, notes, etc., by Miss Fanny
John'^^on, formerly head mistress of
Daltcn High School.

The following from Macmillan and
Co., have just come to hand:

Macaulay's Essay on Addison. Edit-
ed with notes, glossary, index of
proper names, etc., by R.F. Winch,
M.A. Price i/.

The Heroes of Asgard. Tales from
Scandinavian Mythology, by A. and
E. Keary ; adapted for the use of
schools, with new introduction and
g)«vosaries, etc., by M, R. Earle.
Price 1/6.

1906.]

Editorial Comment,

105

Editorial Comment.

ITn^epenDencc
in Sapan.

The opening contribution
in this month's issue has been
supplied in re-
sponse to our
desire to learn
to what extent the ideas of
independence and co-operation
have taken a hold of our
native and foreign brethren
in Japan, so that, from the
manner in which the ques-
tions involved in the carrying
out of these ideas are being
solved in the neighboring em-
pire, we may learn something
that will help in the solution
of like problems in China. We
heartily sympathise with our
brethren in Japan in the
perplexities that havp arisen
from the longing for independ-
ence on the part of the Japanese
churches, but no doubt the
spirit is a healthy one, and we
believe the development is
welcomed in Japan as being
an evidence of real progress in
the direction of attainment of
the goal to which all foreign
missionaries are working — a
self-supporting, self-governing
and self-propagating native
church. As has been pointed
out by a close student of mis-
sions in Japan, it is natural and
fitting that — in view of the wide
recognition which Japan has
received as one of the great
powers and as the natural
leader of the Oriental nations —
the Christian leaders of Japan
should wish to secure to their
countrymen an independent re-
ligious life, free from even the
semblance of foreign dictation.

We sincerely trust, however,
that these leaders will be alive
to the danger of the peace and
unity of the Church being im-
perilled by unwise urging of

extreme measures.

♦ * *

Whilst in China the condi-
tions are different, and no one
would suggest

tn Cblna. tnat tne day tor
foreign mission-
aries was over, and so dis-
courage the coming of recruits,
we cannot shut our eyes to the
fact that the change which has
so rapidly come over the
native mind in many parts
of China, and especially in
connection with the growth of
confidence and birth of patriot-
ism, is affecting some leaders
in the native Christian ranks.
From the Chinese Christian
Ifitelligencer of January Toth,
we learn that a society has been
formed in Shanghai called 4* B
URgf ^ @ At-, or The Chinese
Christian Independent Associa-
tion. The main object of this
Association is to evoke enthu-
siasm and promote union and
independence among Chinese
Christians. The Association
\^pill also endeavor to prevent
lawsuits and will request the
officials to issue proclamations
in regard to the aims of the
work.

^^ m tti

As the public spirit of the
Chinese so

«.»*ft^^*!!t?i long dormant
becomes awak-
ened, we may expect move-

106

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

ments of this kind among the
Christians. The Church is
growing in numbers and in
influence, and the spirit of
independence should be en-
couraged rather than dampened.
The Church is hardly out of its
infancy. To secure self-locomo-
tion the infant is practically, at
least, first quadruped then biped.
This desirable result is secured
by numerous tumbles and fail-
ures which rouse the determin-
ation and insure success. But
we should advise our Chinese
brethren to let this spirit of
independence develop along the
line of established work. The
Association mentioned above
proposes to be independent
of foreigners (we trust it will
shoulder the financial burdens),
but it will be much better to
become Independent Baptists or
Methodists or Presbyterians, or
any thing else, rather than In-
dependent Ecclesiastical Anar-
chists. The movement needs
direction and a study of the
minutes of the meeting publish-
ed in the Intelligencer will
afford food for thought and an
incentive to prayer.

* * *

In this connection we are
glad to refer to the progress

made by the

^bc Cbinese chineseChris-

Cbdstian 'Clnton. ^"^nese^^jris

tian Union.
Three years ago, in drawing
attention to this native work
for Chinese, we said it would
hardly be matter for surprise if
in the beginning of such work
there were elementary crudities,
mistaken ideals, and possibly
mistakes. We are glad to
report that the movement, so

far as we have seen, has been
very wisely conducted. We
understand that there are
branches in Hong-kong, and
in the provinces of Szchuen,
Kiangsi, Shansi, and Chihli.
The members of the Union
comprise Methodists, Baptists,
Episcopalians andPresbyterians.
We have been assured that the
members are proud of their
loyalty to the denominations to
which they belong, and keep
ever before them as their first
duty the preaching of the Gos-
pel to their own people. Such
preaching, they say, ought to
be easier to them than to
foreigners when preaching to
Chinese, as language and habits
are common to them, and ex-
penses are less.

* * *

Another aspect of this sub-
ject is brought to our notice in
Bishop Hoare's
3Bl6bop lboare'6 er on For-

eign Missions,
referred to in book acknowl-
edgments on page 104. He
says : —

«• Tbere are districts in China in
which Protestant missions have been
carried on for more than half a
century, and in which very real and
very solid progress has been made.
When it is possible in a section of one
province to confirm on an average
1,000 converts annually, and to admit,
as I have been privileged to do, ten
Chinese to Holy Orders in a single
year, one cannot but feel that the
time ought to be very near when
we might expect to see the native
church in that part of China estab-
lished on its own independent footing,
and carrying on its own pastoral and
evangelistic work, thus taking its
proper place as the great instrument
for the spread of the Gospel through-
out the land, whilst the Kuropean
missionaries move on to plant the
church in uuevangelized parts. But

19060

Editorial Comment.

107

as a matter of fact it seems to me
that in tliis respect our modern mis-
sions signally fail, and a church in
which the members are numbered
by thousands is frequently further
removed from independence than it
was in the earlier stages of its growth. ' '
* * *

Of the causes which tend to

retard the development of

independence,

©bstacles to -Q-^^ Hoare

UnOepenDencc. ./ ;

specifies two :

sectarian differences, and the
fact that

"the standard of church organiza-
tion, which we endeavour to establish,
is a modern rather than a primitive
one. We aim at a twentieth century,
not a first century, standard. Accus-
tomed as we are in the home- lands
to our church buildings and schools,
and hospitals, and various charitable
institutions, we carry these ideas into
the mission field, and endeavour to
reproduce the organization which is
the outcome of centuries of Christian
life, under conditions which approxi-
mate to those of the church of the
first century. The result is that a
modern mission is a complex mass of
machinery."

Another danger of compli-
cated institutional work was
pointed out by
Rev. C. R.
Watson in his
paper on *'The Relation of Mis-
sions to the Native Church and
its Leaders ' ' at the twelfth con-
ference of Foreign Missions
Boards. The conviction was
expressed then that institu-
tional work has destroyed much
of personal contact of the mis-
sionary with the native. We
do not see why developed
organizations, such as were
referred to, should prevent
the new missionary from ming-
ling with the natives ; but we
draw attention to this and
other reasons which have been

jBcclestastical
IRclatlons.

brought forward in advocacy
of the policy of committing
the ecclesiastical administra-
tion of the native church to
native hands, in the hope that
our readers will frankly tell us,
as the result of their study and
experience, what they consider
the most satisfactory ecclesiast-
ical relation between the mis-
sion and missionary and the
native church.

Bishop Selwyn once remark-
ed : " You can brace your
disciples with re-

llObat 10 tbe snonsibilitv " If
JBegtlPollcg: sponsiDiiity. ir

this treatment
was satisfactory with those
he was specially referring to,
"black disciples, drawn from
wild islands," it ought not to
fail with the more advanced
races. There seems to be a
disposition to more and more
relegate power to the native
church as the leaders are
ready ; but to put clearly the
two main lines followed by
the workers of the principal
Boards referred to by Mr.
Watson we will quote from
his paper the paragraph refer-
ring to the question : Should
the missionary be a member of
the native church, or should
he retain membership in the
ho'me church ?

" We then have 647 ordained mis-
sionaries holding membership in native
churches as against 680 holding mem-
bership in America. From this it will
be seen that neither policy can claim
much of an advantage in the matter
of a following. In the same way we
find a host of arguments and counter
arguments. One side builds up a
very elaborate figure of the Mission
and the missionaries constituting the
scaffolding for the erection of the
native church ; and all agree that a scaf-

108

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

IRatlve
^BrotbcrbooD.

folding should not become a part of
the wall, but should be kept separate.
Just then conies one who advocates
the polic\' of an ordained missionary
holding membership in the native
church, and he demolishes the ' scaf-
folding' theory and says that he
holds to the ' vine ' theory in which
there is neither Jew nor Gentile,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.
Again one will hark back to the early
church and build up an argument on
the analogy between the missionary
and the ' apostle : ' when another
refuses to accept the parallel and with
Warneck says, ' The comparison
with apostolic missions is deceptive
owing to the total difference, in
character, of the conditions.' "

As what we have said ap-
plies to independence rather
than to co-opera-
tion, we would
like to draw at-
tention to another aim of
the Chinese Christian Union :
that of promoting interdeno-
minational brotherhood among
the native Christians. In last
month's issue we referred to the
subject of union, but the many-
sidedness of the question is
illustrated as we look at the
aims and efforts of our native
brethren in this direction.
After all, the great question
at issue is not so much what
the home churches and the
missions desire or can effect,
but what the Chinese Chris-
tians themselves shall work out.
That will be done by the Holy
Spirit in the church ; and the
widespread call for union in
many fields is an evidence that
the Holy Spirit is moving
toward the union pleasing to
Him. There is a distinct wil-
lingness in the churches at
home to allow the newly-
founded Christian communities
to grow into the divinely-

intended form, which is most
hopeful. Men who see little
hope of church union in
America or England, are
eagerly awaiting the results of
the attempts at union on
mission ground.

* * *

It would appear that differ-
ences of doctrine among de-
_ , nominations to-day

^ -V T.* present less difncul-

anD pouts. 1 ^1 -i-rr

ty than differences
of polity. Without yielding an
iota of loyalty to their various
creeds, men are able to recog-
nize those under other standards
as brethren beloved. A federa-
tion, even an organic union,
can be imagined, in which
there should be room for those
holding to various statements
of tiuth. Controversy between
denominations has almost dis-
appeared ; nor is it the fact
that there was more purity of
doctrine in the ages of contro-
versy. Controversy was caused
by the presence of heresies,
and ceases between denomina-
tions when we recognize in
a supposed enemy a brother
dearly-beloved.

On the other hand, a com-
pact of union would necessitate
modifications in church govern-
ment and polity which would
startle the home churches
and be difficult of adjustment
here. At one extreme stands
the Episcopal system, at the
other the Independent, with
the Methodist and the Presby-
terian polities between. The
growth of the church in Korea
has been thus far so flexible
that it is practicable to modify
and adjust the matters of gov-

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

109

ernment and discipline to the
satisfaction of all. This is
not so easy a matter in most
fields ; and our conservative
Chinese brethren will stand
aghast at the problems which
will confront them in any
decided effort toward union.
Yet they should be given the
opportunity of working out
these problems before present
dififerences belonging to our
Western history, and meaning-
less in Asia, shall have become
too stereotyped here.

* * *

As we have seen, the day is
coming when all these ques-

tions will be taken up
^^^ by Asiatic Christians ;

and we shall do well
to decrease as far as possible
the bewildering differences be-
tween us by solving some of
these problems ourselves. That
the synod of the Church of
Christ in Japan is on the point
of declaring itself self-support-
ing and self-governing, and pro-
poses to leave out of its ranks
the churches which accept
mission aid ; and that the
missionaries will possibly be
accepted as coadjutors, fellow-
workers, on their individual
merits rather than officially,
indicates a significant willing-
ness on the part of this branch
of the Japanese church to
shoulder unaided the task of
working out its own future,
its relation to other bodies of
Christians, and its solution of
the problems of union. That
a solution will be attempted
there can be no doubt. That
the missionary should not stand
in the way of a solution, but

should rather give most earnest
and conscientious help toward
it, is manifest.

* * *

As in this issue we are able
to give in our Church Praise
^ ^. Department some

IRcv.Zboe. „orett,nesbvRev.
Cbampncss. ^ g chan.pness,
it is only appropriate that we
refer to the death of his
well-known and highly hon-
oured father. Rev. Thomas
Champness, so long identified
with the Joyful Neivs and its
mission. The departed veteran,
who has been described as the
best-loved man in Methodism,
commenced work as an open-
air preacher in 1857 ; later on
he spent three years at Sierra
Leone and other three at Abeo-
kata, and returned with shat-
tered health ; but rendered long
and valiant service in preach-
ing, teaching and editing. Of
the hundreds of evangelists
trained by Thomas Champness
for work at home and abroad
at least forty have entered the
Christian ministry, and one,
William Argent, gained the
martyr's crown in the Yangtze
riots of 1 89 1. Whilst never
appealing for subscriptions, and
relying on answers to prayer,
Mr. Champness received in all
not less than ^85,000 for the
support of his training homes
and evangelists.

* * *

Opposite page 67 will be
found an ancient portrait of

Lao Tzu. It is a
^:^m^L photo reproduction

of a tablet of Lao
Tzu purchased in Hankow some
ten years back. The inscrip-

110

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

tion is headed '* The Praises of
Hsiiaii Tsuiig,^' and bears the
signature of Yen Ch€n-ch'ing
as the writer. Hsiian Tsung,
also known as T'ang Ming-
huang, was seventh Emperor
of the T'ang dynasty, reigning
from 713 to 755. Yen Chen-
ch4ng was a famous official
and noted caligraphist, born
709, died 785. If the inscrip-
tion be genuine the tablet dates
back to those years. The in-

scription, as translated by Mr.

Cornaby, reads : —

" Of exalted virtue ; born and bred
obscurely ; white hair depending over
the face ; purple aura floating to the
heavens ; restrained passions and
deepest meditation ; unceasing perpe-
tuity (is his); instructing elders in the
east ; transforming the tribes of the
west ; a law for a hundred monarchs ;
propagated by a succession of sages ;
lord of the myriad religions ; first and
oriijinal upon earth ; embracing the
valleys and barring back the rocks ;
leaving behind him a five thousand
(word) classic ; ' Tao is not the perpe-
tual Tao '; mystery upon mystery ! "

Missionary News.

English Baptist Mission,

SHANTUNG PROVINCE.

Statistics for 190^.

Church members 3.961

Baptized in 1905 370

Pastors in charge 17

Evangelists in Mission employ 19

Village schools (boys and girls) 106

Do. scholars do. 1,185

Places for worship ... ... 275

Foreign-manned stations ... 5

B. M. S. Missionaries: —
Ordained
Lay

Absent 2 '^ 23

Medical men 2, women2 =4

Z. M. S. missionaries 6

Boarding-schools, boys'... 2

Scholars. 90

Girls' boarding-school ... i

Scholars ... ... 40

Students in Union College ( Arts)

Do. Theological College (

R. C. Forsyth.

Deductions : —
Deaths
Suspensions

81

35

I
2

Presbyterian Church of
England.

Statistics of the Formosa Mis-
sion FOR THE Year 1904-1905.

Communicants on the roll

at 31st October, 1904 ... 2,703
Additions : —

Adults baptised 308

Baptised in infancy, re-
ceived to communion... 32

Restored from suspension 14

Come from elsewhere ... i

Total additions..355

Total deductions..! 16
Net increase in number of

communicants ... ... 239

Total communicants on

roll at 31st October, 1905 2,942

Members under suspension ... 151
Children on roll at 31st

October, 1904 2,104

Do. baptised during

year, 227 ; net increase 107
Total baptised children 2,211

Total church membership

at 31st October, 1905 ... 5.304

Total native Christian offerings dur-
ing 1904, $10,817.57
Foreign Staff.— Ordained, 5 ; Med-
ical, 3 ; Educational, i ; Lady Mission-
aries, 4.

Native Staff. — Ordained, 5; Unor-
dained Preachers, 45 ; College, i ;
High-school, I ; Girls' School, i ;
Women's School, i ; Hospitals, 3.
Monthly Magazine (Romanized)
circulation, 1,150.

Chinese Mission— Singapore,
JOHORK & Muar.
I.— Membership-
Adults. Children. Totals.
Members 1904 291 187 478

Baptised 1905 8 23 31

Received 1905 53 5 58—567

I.ess 1905 Removals: adultS4o; children, 21— 61

Men. Women. Children.
1905. 211 loi 194 —506
II.— Contributions-
Men. Women. 1904. 1905.
l.BukitTimah 46 29—75 I2U.82 |455-7»

2. Seranjigoug 25 10 — 35 150 35 100 27

3. Tek Kha 18 8 — 26 260.03 146.73

Pastorate

47 —136 623.20 702.70

1906.]

Missionary News.

Ill

Men.

Women.

1904.

1905.

4-

Tanjong Pagar

5-

Paya Lebar

Pastorate

39

12

= 51

$961.40

$1,082.56

6.

Prinsep St.

Straits Chinese 15

26

= 41

37602

370.48

7-

Gaylang

3

I

= 4

430

10 40

8.

Johore

39

8

= 47

242.00

320.13

9-

Muar

26

7

= 33

622.05

54246

To:als

211

101

=312

"27836^

3.028.73

J. A. B. Cook.

The Young People's Mis-
sionary Conference at
Silver Bay.

BY MISS ELIZABETH GOUCHER
(Baltimore).

The Young People's Mission-
ary Movement is an interdenomi-
national organization to

^* promote and guide indivi-
dual responsibility in the world's
evangelization in this generation.
It realizes that there are men
enough, that there is money
enough and that through God
there is power enough. This
responsibility is felt only w^iere
there is an interest in missions,
and a sure method of arousing
this interest is through a knowl-
edge of missions — w^iat has been
done, what remains to be done,
against what obstacles and wnth
what prospects and co-operation.
A study of the lives of mission-
aries shows what has been done,
and missionaries are apt to tell
us what remains to be done.
The geographical, governmental,
social, intellectual, medical and
religious status of a country
shows the obstacles. Devotional
study of the Bible and power in
prayer give the faith and assure
the co-operation of The Mighty
to Save.

Along these lines the Young
People's Missionary Movement
conducts summer conferences,
where to many come ideals, pur-
poses and power.

The second conference of this
summer was held July 21-31
in New York vState on
^^^'^* Lake George. This is
the fourth annual one at this
place ; surely an ideal place for
coming apart to be with God.
Nature here is superb. Silver
Bay is a cove where the lake is
two miles wide and surrounded
by hills thickly wooded with
white birches, chestnuts and
pines. Among these hills tumble
brooks fed by springs in the rocks,
and beds of fragrant pine needles
or moss and ferns run rival at-
tractions with the higher cliffs
and broader views of the lake
and surrounding mountains.

This summer 603 delegates
represented 16 denominations and
came from 24 States of the Union,
Canada, Philippine Islands, Ja-
pan, China and India. Among
these were 12 missionaries, 61
pastors, 13 Board secretaries,
many secretaries of Woman's
Home and Foreign Missionary
Societies, district leaders of Young
People's Societies, and chairmen
of missionary committees and
local societies.

Lack of space prevents the

How,

insertion of the programme
of Bible classes, confer-
ences, mission study classes, etc.
The speakers are earnest, con-
secrated men, who from experi-

ence and specialization
Results, ^i^^g ^^^^ ^.j^^^ ^^ ^^^j^

topics, speak to the conference
with authority. A study of the
wkole program wall show that
the influence about the delegates
is a sane, yet clear, loft}^ and
focussed one. The missionaries
bring an uplift and encourage-
ment to the delegates who, by
their unit}^ and enthusiasm, are
an inspiration and encourage-
ment to the missionaries. Some
of the results of these conferences
are lives pledged to the mission

112

The Chinese Recorder.

[February,

field, increase of the missionary
offerings by systematic giving,
effectual missionary societies
planned, leaders for missionary
study and Bible study classes,
trained and commissioned, with
thousands of young people
S3'stematically studying missions
under them the following months.
It is for us who have been to
Silver Bay to remember the men
— leaders and speakers — that
spake unto us the Word of God
and, considering the issue of
their life, to imitate their faith ;
while in the spirit of prayer, the
spirit of the conference, we give
to God the gratitude and glory
for the success and mighty power
of these conferences.

Missionary Home.

It will interest our friends in
the interior to learn that here-
after the rates charged to guests
at the Missionary Home in
Shano^hai have been reduced to
Two Dollars per day and upward.
Considering the high price of
coal now and the constant ad-
vance on the cost of living, we
feel assured that this effort to
meet the requirements of those
whose incomes are limited, or
subject to heavy demands on
other items, will be met by a
generous support.

" A Little Child Shall Lead
Them."

By T. A. P. CuNTON, C. I. M.

The officials and people of Chen-
cheo-fu, Hunan, have shown such a
wealth of afTectionate sympathy with
Dr. and Mrs. William Kelly, of the
Reformed Church in U. S. A. Mission,
in their recent bereavement that it
forms a remarkable evidence of the
wonderful change coming over the
Chinese Kmpire.

Only three years ago, within a
stone's-throw of the Mission com-

pound, a frenzied mob gathered and
did to death the English missionaries —
Messrs, Bruce and Lowis, of the China
Inland Mission ; almost as soon as
the deed was perpetrated the people
were struck with their terrible crime,
and as the aims of the missionaries
have been better understood a kind-
lier feeling has come over them, and
this has expressed itself in many ways.

As the China Inland Mission could
not see its way clear to immediately
reoccupy the station a most hearty
welcome was extended to Dr. and Mrs,
Kelly as they began work, giving
also a slight evidence of the haimony
that exists between the mission-
aries of different countries and
societies on the same field. A trip
on the Yuen River will bring the
traveller in contact with Americans,
Britons, Germans and Australians
who, with their chapels, hospitals
and schools, work harmoniously to-
gether, serving one Master and seek-
ing to extend the knowledge of His
name in these long-neglected regions.

Dr, and Mrs, Kelly look upon the
Mission property as God's gift, so
wonderfully was everything arranged ;
fully a score of property owners
willingly transferred their rights,
thus giving adequate accommodation
for the many buildings required for a
fully-equipped evangelistic, medical
and educational mission.

The site is indescribably beautiful,
the old city wall forms its northern
and eastern boundary, the city lies at
its feet and the hill slopes gently
down to the transparent waters of
the lovel}' Yuen ; across the river the
wooded hills rise tier upon tier, with
a white pagoda or pavilion here and
there crowning their summits.

A great variety of beautiful old trees
and shrubs fills the compound and
the heavily laden orange trees and
pumeloes with their golden fruits and
autumn tinted leaves give such a
fragrance to the air and add such
charm to the scene that thoughts
go back to Eden, and one wonders
whether it could have been more
lovely.

It seems almost incredible that such
changes should have taken place in
so short a time, but to the glory of
God, be it said. He has set such grace
upon His servants and His love
through them has shed such fragrance
all around, and the simplicity and
beauty of their characters have had
such 'an influence, that the Cliinese
who are quick to a])preciate true
worth have more than once expressed

1906.]

Missionary News.

143

their admiration, and the chief
mandarin, recently, when leaving for
another appointment left on record
that he was now "fully convinced
that only good to the people was the
object of the Christian teachers from
the West. "

As Dr. and Mrs. Kelly were return-
ing from their summer rest it pleased
the Lord to call their little son to
Himself, and though it meant many
days' journey, it was decided to inter
his remains at Chen-cheo, for it would
have been a great disappointment to
the people to bury him elsewhere ;
they called him " Our little master "
and loved him, and he reciprocated
that love, for even in his last short
sickness he preferred the Chinese to
his foreign nurses. The writer joined
Dr. and Mrs. Kelly on their boat as
they passed Chang-teh, and a week's
sailing up river amidst some of the
grandest scenery to be found in
China, brought us to our destination.

On the w^ay up two messengers
hailed us and said ihey had been sent
to express their sympathy, and from
the moment we landed till after the
funeral a constant stream of visitors
came. " Lao Wang," the faithful, as
he is called, said, " Ah ! little master,
we had all planned to meet you, but
we didn't expect you would come
back in this way." The two messen-
gers made enquiries as to the correct
way to express their sympathy, and
on being informed that in Christian
countries flowers were considered
appropriate to present on calling,
they evidently had made it their
business to tell everyone what the
"correct custom" was, for old men,
women, children and even babies-in-
arms brought flowers.

The prefect, who is a relative of the
Imperial House, was very sympathetic,
and sent a beautiful wreath of pink
flowers entwined with the feathery
bamboo ; the Chinese love of emblems
was thus disphued, for it was explain-
ed that the pink represented "crush-
ed life," but it was entwined with
the delicate "evergreen" bamboo,
signifying "constant life;" the senti-
ment being almost identical with the
Christian idea of life being laid down
here for entrance into life more
abundant beyond.

The District Magistrate also called,
and later sent a wreath ; the three
military mandarins did the same, and
perhaps the most touching of all was
the tribute from the Buddhist nuns,
whose convent is close by ; they had
known and loved " the little master."

Besides the many beautiful cut flowers
no less than fifty-six pots of flowering
plants were received, and these, placed
round the casket, aluiost hid it from
view ; the quiet yet pretty effect
seemed to impress everyone who came
to see.

It was decided, in view of the
crowds expected, to have the service
outside the chapel, and it was well it
had been so arranged, for it would
have taken a building many times the
size to accommodate those who came.
When everything was arranged for
the service to proceed a " peh-hoh "
(a crane), the emblem of longevity,
flew over the chapel and glided on to
a cypress tree ; for a moment the
people standing near were struck
with amazement, and if there had
been any doubt in their minds it was
now dispelled, for from ancient times
the coming of a "peh-hoh" means
"Heaven's messenger of felicity."
This is such a rare occurrence that
when great mandarins or wealthy
people die in China they have a
model of the ' ' peh-hoh ' ' set up on the
bier, and in making arrangements for
the funeral some of the Chinese had
suggested that one should be procured,
but this was considered by us un-
necessary ; great was their delight
then when a living one appeared.
"Our little master is blessed! Our
little master is blessed!" they said,
and as the word went instantly round
the compound, even the teachers
hurried as fast as their dignity would
allow them to see such a "good
omen."

A simple service was held ; then the
procession was formed ; first in order
was the military guard in full uniform,
but instead of their weapons of war
each soldier carried a flower, then
followed the junior school boys wear-
ing white turbans, the emblem of
mourning, and the four corner boys
carried white scrolls with the follow-
ing text inscribed : —

(i). Jesus said : "Suffer the little
children to come unto Me and forbid
tlierfl not, for of such is the Kingdom
of God."

(2). Except ye be converted and
become as little children, ye shall not
enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

(3). Jesus said : "I am the resurrec-
tion and the life ; he that bel.ieveth in
Me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live."

(4). And we know that all things
work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called
according to His purpose.

114

The Chinese Recorder.

[February, 1906.

These texts were read, no doubt, by
hundreds along the route, and we
hope will lead many to serious
thought.

The venerable Mr. Chang was next
in the procession, and he carried the
beautiful wreath sent by the prefect;
he was followed by Mr. K'ong, who
carried the wreath from the District
Magistrate. Mr. Liu carried a cross of
white camellias from Miss Whitmore,
and Mr. Ho a white wreath from Mrs.
Clinton, of the China Inland Mission.

The " Bed-of-peace," the very ap-
propriate designation of the funeral
bier with a canopy of red. was borne by
sixteen men and followed immediate-
ly by Dr. Kelly and the writer, who
led the service. Friends followed on
foot, and the ladies in four-bearer
chairs provided by sympathetic friends,
brought up the rear with an escort
sent by the Police Magistrate. Hun-
dreds lined the route and all were most

respectful ; as we passed through the
north gate and up the "Centipede"
hill (appropriately named with its
hundred steps) everything looked so
calm and beautiful ; the day was
perfect and the very peace and bene-
diction of God seemed to rest upon
us We laid our little friend to sleep
in the beautiful '• God's-acre " on the
slope of the hill, where also rest from
their labours our beloved martyr-
brethren Bruce and Lowis in the full
and certain hope of the Resurrection
morn, and as we sang "Safe in the
arms of Jesus," we felt "it is well
with the child."

As the evening shadows were fall-
ing we gathered in the chapel and
rendered thanks to the Giver of all
and an appropriate address on the
text " A little child shall lead them"
quickened our hopes for the gladder
and fuller day " when He shall ap-
pear and we shall be like Him."

Missionary Journal.

BIRTH.

At Wenchow, January i8th, to the
Rev. and Mrs. Geo. H. Sevii^i^k, C.
I. M., a daughter (Janet Elizabeth).

MARRIAGES.

AT Shanghai, January loth, Dr. A. A.

McFadyen and Miss Catherine

Williams, both S. P. M.
At Shanghai, January 24th, LiLLiE

M. R. Ware, eldest daughter of

Rev. and Mrs. James Ware, F. C;
. M., and Mr. George R. Arthur,

of Shanghai,

DEATH,

AT Hamilton, Ontario. January nth,
SiGRiD, only child of Rev. and Mrs.
F. xi. Lund, A. P. E. C. M., Wuhu.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai :—

December 7th, Mr. and Mrs. P.
Ehn, S. a. M.

December 9th, Messrs. E. Casper-
SHN and D. Gulbrandsen, N. M. S.

December 23rd, Owen and Mrs.
Stevenson and two children C. I. M.
(ret.) from England.

January 7th, Bishop and Mrs.
Cassels and four children. Misses
Emilv Culverwell and H. M.
KOLKHNBECK (ret.) ; Misses A. M.
Russell, J. B. Pearse, M. Baxter,
E. Maud Mandeville, for C. I. M. ;
Rev. and Mrs. K. EnGDAHL (ret.),
S. M. S., Ichang.

January 12th, Mr. and Mrs. Clif-
ford A. Funk, Frank A. Baer,
Misses Anna E. Galbraith, Ida
Haldeman, Elizabeth Hiltz and
Ella N. Ruhl, C. and M. A.

January 22nd, Misses C. M. Jen-
kins and Mary Wood, F. M. Nan-
king, Miss E. Etchells (uncon. ).

January 23rd, E. and Mrs. Murray
and one child, Mrs. Cameron, Arthur
Hammond (ret.) and H. W. Sparks,
C. I. M., from England.

January 26th, Rev. and Mrs. H. R.
Caldwell and child, M. E. M, (ret.) ;
Rev. and Mrs. J. C. GarriTT, D.D.,
and two children, A. P. M. (ret.).

departures.

From Shanghai : —

December 2nd, Mr. J. ChrisTensen,
S. A. M.. for U. S. A.

December i6th, Miss Wedicson,
S. A. M.. for Sweden.

December 31st, Rev. and Mrs. S. H.
LiTTELLand two children, A. E. C. M.,
Hankow for U. S. A.

January 13th, G. F. Stooke, l.r.C.P. ,
and fam'ily, Ch. Scot. M., Ichang,
for England.

January 27th, Miss A. Strand. S.
A. M., for U. S. A.

Januarv 29th, Rev. W. A. McKiN-
NEY and wife, A. B. M U., West
China ; Dr. T. AvEKSand Miss AyerS,
Rev. and Miss J. W. LowE and child,
S. B. C, for U. S. A.

= 1 ^

0^ <-

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $1.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. MARCH, 1906. NO. 3.

What Caused the Lien-chow Massacre?

THE main facts of the tragedy have been so widely
published that only a very brief synopsis is necessary
here.
Near the hospitals in Lien-chow was a small temple owned
by the village *' Tsoi-un-pa," which contains forty or fifty
families. Last year, when the *'Ta-tsiu" festival was held at
this temple, two matsheds w^ere erected for it on the adjoining
mission premises. As the people were not willing to vacate, an
appeal was made to the officials, and it was arranged that the
trespass would not be repeated. It was repeated this year, and
when the protest was repeated it was met by mob violence.
In discussing what led to this violence it may be said : —
(i). It was not a hostile attitude on the part of the people
generally. As a whole they were friendly. Years of patient,
kind and tactful conduct had overcome their opposition and
won their favor. They had visited the chapels of the Mission,
had sent their children to its schools, and thousands of them had
found relief at its hospitals established by Dr. INIachle and Dr.
Chesnut and carried on by them so long and faithfully. We
have the testimony of the Taotai who was at the head of the
Judicial Commission sent by the Viceroy to Lien-chow^ and
who while there went incognito about the streets to learn what
he could, that "Dr. Machle was held in high esteem by the
gentry and the officials and was popular with the people."

116 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

f2\ It was not the picking up by Dr. Machle of three
small cannon, some six inches long, in order to secure a
conference with the village elders and after the conference wag
satisfactorily finished giving the cannon back again. He had
explained to them that their forms of worship and objects of
worship were different from ours, and that if they would not wish
us to put up a chapel on their premises, they ought not to erect
structures for their worship on our premises. The elders said
this was reasonable, but asked that the building might not be
disturbed this year, as it would be taken down the next day, to
which Dr. Machle consented, and the elders on their part said
they would not put their sheds on the place hereafter. The
whole matter had been properly settled.

There were only a few men around the temple at the time,
and there was not the shadow of an excuse for any farther
trouble. Not even in China is an attempt to remove from one's
own premises structures which have no right there, and
especially which are objectionable, a legitimate cause or any
excuse for arson and murder ; nor certainly considered a good
reason for murdering people who had no connection with the
business, even women and children, and breaking down the
tombstones of the dead.

WHAT WERE THE REAL CAUSES ?

(i). The ringleaders were in the village of " Tsoi-un-
pa " and two other villages. The proof of this is from those
acquainted with the situation, from the testimony given before
the Judicial Court and the telling fact that when the U. S.
Commission reached Lien-chow they found these three villages
and these alone deserted.

To understand all we must know a little of the history of
the occupation of Lien-chow. About 1880 a small chapel was
rented in the city, but the gentry and the officials placed them-
selves in such an attitude of opposition that for years after no
building could be rented or property bought for mission
purposes. Dr. Machle and his associates who afterwards came,
located themselves ten miles away at the large town Sam-kong.
Twelve years ago a piece of land, with a small building on it,
was purchased at Lien-chow. The man who sold it was
imprisoned and cruelly beaten. The missionary who attempted
to occupy it first was driven away by a mob and his servant and

1906] What Caused the Lien-chow Massacre? 117

a Chinese preacher who was with him were taken to the Yamen
and each beaten 500 blows. That mob came from this village
" Tsoi-un-pa ". Dr. Machle succeeded afterwards in gaining
the goodwill of a majority of the village, built a wall around
the land and opened a dispensary. Eight years ago he was
able to build his hospital. A woman's hospital followed ; more
land was purchased and two residences were erected, then a
memorial hall for women, and early in 1905 a fine church
building.

But the disgruntled party no doubt held in their hearts a
root of bitterness on account of their failure to keep out the
missionaries. Claims were made for some of the land bought,
and to avoid trouble Dr. Machle paid for it a second time.
Then last year when they put some of the '* Ta-tsiu " sheds on
Mission property and their right was questioned they made
evident their deadly animosity. Some villains ran out from the
temple and threatened Dr. Machle' s life. One ringleader, who
was also the chief ringleader this year, and executed for his
share in the murders, shook his spear and angrily shouted, " We
will kill you and destroy your buildings ". The officials knew
this, for it was said and done in their presence.

In the light of what has happened we cannot now doubt
that the "Ta-tsiu" sheds were this year placed on the same
spot with the deliberate purpose of defying both Dr. Machle
and the officials and using violence should opposition be made.
The plotters knew perfectly well where to look for help in
carrying out their wicked purpose. In Lien-chow, and the
country round about, there is a regular nest of " unclean birds,"
opium smokers, gamblers, smugglers, bandits, murderers — an
organized gang. With enmity to all that is good, and a ready
desire to loot, well mixed together in their hearts, they were
ready for any desperate deed on demand. For more than a year
they had been brow-beating the officials who stood in dread
of them, and doing their own pleasure. A goodly portion of
the village of " Tsoi-un-pa " belonged to this gang. They
had a store house for receiving and distributing smuggled
goods. A wdiile ago Dr. Machle had remarked to them, while
passing it, that it was a bad business and they w^ere liable to
be arrested for it. It so happened that not long after some of
them were arrested and were incensed against him, suspecting
him to have caused the arrest whereas he had nothing to do
with it.

118 The Chinese Recorder. March,

Now on the morning of the massacre what did these people
do? They tried to kill Dr. Maclile, althongh the village elders
told them that everything had been satis [lictorily settled and
urged them to desist. They struck him on the arm with a
sword, they hit him on the head with a stone, and one of them
from behind tried to thrnst him through with a spear, which
fortunately was turned aside by one of the Christians. One of
the elders pushed him inside the hospital door and the work of
that preliminary mob was ended.

As matters seemed quieting down tlie doctor went a five
minutes walk to his residence and sent a note to the officials, who
came and did what they could, but with only about thirty
soldiers at their disposal their efforts were vain.

Meanwhile what had the roughs been doing ? First, they
beat their gongs, the well known signal for calling together the
*' whole band." It was noted that those who actually took
part in the burning of the buildings, the looting and the
massacre were from 150 to 200. The next thing was to inflame
the populace and get together a crowd sufficient to baffle the
officials. To do this they went into both the hospitals and took
the anatomical specimens that had been used by the doctors in
teaching medical classes, and which there is therefore every
probability the ruffians knew beforehand were there. They
placed these specimens on a bamboo tray and paraded them
through the city, proclaiming that the missionary doctors were
in the habit of putting children to death. This had the desired
effect, getting together five or six thousand people, and enabled
the murderers to carry out their deadly purpose without moles-
tation.

Did those rascals in that little village of " Tsoi-un-pa "
and their accomplices have any other backing ? Let the
following facts speak for themselves. Let those who know the
conditions which obtain in some localities in China judge for
themselves.

The man who last year threatened to kill Dr. Machle said
more than we have quoted above. He said : "We are Catholics ;
we are not afraid." This was the man to whom for the sake
of peace Dr. Machle paid money for the land a second time,
though he had no title to it.

A leading Chinese Catholic in Lien-chow is in the employ
of the priest there, and it is a matter of common fame, borne out
by testimony, that this man, who is a noted gambler, has been

1906.J What Caused the Lien-chow Massacre? 119

enrolling his own class of men as belonging to the Catholic
church, each paying, as agreed upon, from fifty cents to a hundred
dollars for being thus enrolled. He had been doing this not-
ably for a few months before the riot. Those who know the
situation in Lien-chow know well enough that these opium
smokers, and gamblers, and smugglers, were not registering
their names for any religious purpose. They were relying on
this connection to make the rulers fear to punish them for their
lawlessness, and some of them at least had not relied in vain.
One does not need to go far to find the reason why, when after
hours of effort the officials had failed to quell the mob, those
who composed it dispersed as soon as the man mentioned above,
who had registered many of their names, ordered them to do so.

The '* boycott'^ probably had its influence in a general
way. On account of this movement, which it is well known is
encouraged by the Viceroy, the people almost anywhere in the
province would feel less fear of punishment on account of
injury done to Americans. Not very long before the outbreak
requests had been received by the boycott organization in
Canton from Lien-chow to send there boycott agitators and
boycott literature. So far as known agitators were not sent,
but doubtless the literature was sent. On the walls of a temple
close to where the trouble occurred, were found these inscrip-
tions : "China is not friendly to America, does not buy American
goods. ' ^

The Viceroy is thought to have a responsibility in the
matter in not having a larger force in Lien-chow when he must
have known the lawlessness that has existed there during the
past two years. It is a damaging fact to him that he forbade the
sub-prefect, who was there last year, to testify before the
Investigating Commission. It is reported that this sub-prefect
had to hire guards at a large expense to himself in attempting
to keep the city in order, and that the Viceroy refused to
reimburse him.

One fact more may be mentioned as having a possible
bearing. We have learned recently that a widespread dissatis-
faction has existed in the province of Kwong-si on account of
the officials having prohibited this year the celebration of the
"Ta-tsiu** festival, and also taking some of the temples for
government schools. The people blame this not only on the
officials but the missionaries and say the former are following
the lead of the latter. That there is quite a close connection

120 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

between Lien -chow and the neighboring portion of Kwong-si
appears from the fact that when the leaders of the massacre
heard that a military force was coming from Canton they first
proposed to resist them, and sent to their triad friends in Kwong-
si to come over the mountains and help them. The request
was prudently declined.

Some or all of the above influences combined to brine
about that sad catastrophe which took from us those who were of
the " excellent of the earth." We would need to go far to find
any more devoted, faithful missionaries than were Mrs. Machle
and Dr. Chesnut, or more promising young missionaries than
Mr. and Mrs. Peale. We mourn our loss, but can pray and
assuredly believe that God will ''cause the wrath of man to
praise him and the remainder of wrath restrain."

Canton, January i8th, 1905.

On the Use of 'Ni' in Prayer.

BY REV. W. H. GILLESPIE, I. P. MISSION, MANCHURIA.

IN these days when we are happily beginning to feel the
advantages of giving expression to our unity as ambassadors
of a common king by some approximation to uniformity
in the language we use it may be well to consider carefully some
habits of speech that have been peculiar to the Chmese church
or certain sections of it, their origin and explanation, and
whether they are of permanent or temporary value or none.
I would suggest the opening of the pages of the Recorder, not
indeed to controversy on these questions — at least not in the
objectionable sense of that word — but to friendly discussion with
a view to ultimate agreement on the sanest possible lines. To
take the question of the use of ' ni'' in prayer as an example of
what I mean I myself am altogether unaware to what extent
it is considered proper in other parts of China to use it. I can
only speak for Manchuria with any degree of confidence, and
here at least there is a very strong feeling, especially among the
older missionaries, against the use of the term, so strong indeed
that for any man to raise his voice in its favour would be almost
tantamount to subscribing himself a heretic or a blasphemer.
In Pei-tai-ho this summer I had the privilege of hearing some

1906.] On the Use of *Ni' in Prayer. 121

non-Manchurians conduct Chinese services, and to me it was an
agreeable surprise to find that some of them at least did not
scruple to use the dreaded word in their address to the Supreme
Being. The discovery emboldens me to give expression to my
growing conviction that in this one point Manchuria is on wrong
lines, and, I would fain hope, the greater part of the eighteen
provinces on right. I3ut in any case some discussion of the
question should do good and help us to know what is to be said
on both sides and how many there are to say it.
My own view of the matter is as follows : —

1. The word ' Ni ' per se is the simplest and most natural
pronoun for direct address to a single person and carries with it
no idea of respect or disrespect, reverence or irreverence, whether
spoken to a superior, an inferior or an equal. This statement is
sure to be challenged by many who know infinitely more about
the Chinese language and its usages than I can claim to know,
but yet I make it confidently, because I have intelligent and
educated Chinese opinion to back me.

2. I frankly admit that I have often heard the word used
by ignorant coolies and impudent servants to their masters
in circumstances that seemed to me altogether to condemn
the speaker on one score or the other. How, it may be
asked, can I reconcile this admission with my general state-
ment above, or on the other hand, with my contention that
the pronoun ' Ni ' is becoming and proper to use in prayer.
My answer is that the assumed disrespect does not inhere in
the word itself, and, strictly speaking, is not expressed by
it. It is rather the absence of the conventional terms of
respect that properly gives offence, not the use of the pronoun,
which in itself is colourless as regards respect or disrespect.
But certain additions or substitutes for it are usual in certain
circumstances, and failing these we regard a man's mode of
addressing us as disrespectful. The difference between this
view of the matter and that which 'reckons ' Ni ' as in itself a
disrespectful or insulting term might be considered one of merely
academic interest were human relations all that had to be taken
account of But when the latter is made the basis for a
rejection of * Ni ' from the language of prayer and some such
word as Fu (Father) or Chu (Lord) is put in its place it becomes
a very practical question and it concerns every missionary to
consider it well. Think of what the Lord's Prayer would lose
to ourselves of its force and directness were the words ' Thy '

122 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

and ' Thine ^ cut out. Substitute ^ Father^ s'' or ^ the LorcVs^
for it in each place where it occurs and see how it strikes us,
and then further, imagine, if we can, that we have never known
anything more direct, but have been taught from our earliest
acquaintance with Christianity that such substitutes are all that
can be allowed us in consistency with the reverence that is due
to God, and few of us but will feel that the reverence is dearly
purchased, even if it be granted that it can be purchased in such
a way. Yet this is how the Model Prayer is said in Manchuria
and I know not how far beyond its bounds, and we have been
taught to consider any departure from this model as the result
either of irreverence or at least culpable carelessness. In
repeating the Lord's Prayer together in the public congregation
it is only quite lately that I have myself made bold to use the
word that seems to me to be the one suitable one. In free
prayer I have taken greater liberty, though frequently prefixing
the word * Fit ' or * Chtc ' and using the pronoun much more
sparingly than in English. But I have done nothing further to
change our custom, and would welcome any encouragement
from others before embarking on such a crusade.

3. If I am asked to explain how it happens that we have
such a strong feeling against the use of *7V^' I can only give
my theory of the origin of that feeling and let it go for what it
is worth. My theory is that the objection to ' Ni ' is of foreign
manufacture, adopted by the Chinese Christian on foreign
authority. The foreign missionary, finding himself addressed
by the ignorant or impudent as 'w/,' jumped speedily to the
conclusion that * ni ' must be a disrespectful word in itself^ and
accordingly determined that at all costs the Chinese Christian
must be taught reverence in addressing God and that reverence
was impossible where *;//' was used. This may not be the
whole account of the matter, for it is quite easy to understand
how the Chinese themselves might fall into the same mistake.
For when one comes for the first time to determine what
language is suitable for prayer one has no closer analogy than
that of the words used in addressing superiors among men, and
therefore the first thought is, ' Work on the lines of this
analogy.' But the analogy is a most imperfect one, and parti-
cularly so perhaps in China, where such pains are taken to
emphasize superiority in rank by keeping inferiors at arm's
length and multiplying the restrictions that may be imposed
upon them in their attempts to hold intercourse with those

1906.] On the Use of * Ni ' in Prayer. 125

above them. We know that God's ways in this respect are not
as man's ways, for He does not take the distance at which we
stand from Him as the true measure of our reverence, but on the
contrary encourages us to draw near to Him with boldness, a
holy boldness whereby we cry 'Abba, Father'. Nor is this
boldness at all allied to arrogance or presumption, though it
may, to an outsider, look uncommonly like it. The boldness of
the child in presence of his father can quite easily co-exist with
the very largest possible idea of that father's greatness. And
so in like manner we think no less highly of God when we
know that He invites us to speak to Him as Our Father and
to speak directly to Him such words as ' Thy Kingdom come.'
This nearness of approach and directness of address to God
are indeed among the most precious parts of the heritage that is
ours in Christ. And therefore we should beware, lest we unwit-
tingly deprive our Chinese brethren of any of their benefits.
We should be very jealous of anything that tends to make the
worshipper forget that his God is a gracious God, who bows
down His ear to hear the prayer of His servant, no matter how
lowly that servant may be, or rather all the more graciously
where He sees true lowliness of heart and life. It is said,
however, that ' Ni ' would not and could not be used by such a
worshipper, and it is argued that if it 'is unsuitable and objec-
tionable on the lips of an inferior to his human master much
more must this be so in an address to God. With this I entirely
disagree, and of course I must give my reasons. In the first
place, I find from Chinese of taste and judgment in the matter
of language that the same terms of respect that are used to our
fellowmen, such as ' ni-lao ' or ^ niu^'' would be altogether out of
place in prayer, though one sometimes hears them used by men
of less weight. They are far too weak and unworthy to be used
as expressions of reverence to the Most High, and indeed the
former class of men generally feel that it would be better to have
no special terms to express reverenot than to adopt these. But
suitable terms can, and assuredly will, be found without them as
the reverence itself develops. It is no part of my contention
that no such terms should be used, but only that they should
not be allowed to interfere with the use of ^ Ni\ the natural
equivalent of our own ' Thou. '

4. The analogy of other languages might be quoted to
satisfy any one who is still dubious about the validity of the
above argument. English is not by any means the only

124 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

language in which we find the singular personal pronoun of the
second person unusual and sometimes offensive when spoken to
men and yet at the same time holding its proper and recognized
place in prayer. These analogies are not in themselves sufficient
argument to satisfy anybody, but they at least make us pause
when we are tempted to argue too hastily from the one use of
the word to the other. By all means let us have a holy fear
and trembling in the presence of our King. But surely the
humility that best pleases God is not that which contemplates
His grace from a distance, but that which takes Him at His word
and comes trustingly and expectantly into His presence with
empty hand and full heart, accepting the grace that suits our
time of need.

Lao Tzu Redivivus.

BY REV. W. ARTHUR CORNABY.

(Concluded from p. 7^, Febriiary 7tumber.)

Among sentences which have passed into national proverbs
we have the following : —

Small faith can be placed in promises lightly made. (LXIII).

Act before necessity arises ; regulate before disorder com-
mences. (LXIV).

This is the way of Heaven : Acting leisurely, but planning
effectively. (LXXIII).

The net of Heaven extends everywhere. Its meshes are
wide, but nothing ever escapes it. (LXXIII).

Whatever be his subject he seems to view it in the light
of the infinite, and what a thought has he given for the thinkers
of all the ages in the words: *' Birth is an exit, death an
entrance ' ' !

Goodness to his mind is conformity to the Tao, and he
assumes that the recognition of that enwrapping infinity will
pour contempt upon the pride of mortals. He says : —

Humility is the root of honour ; lowliness is the founda-
tion of loftiness. (XXXIX).

To be lowly is to be filled ... to be diminished is to be
able to receive. (XXII).

And he sees the superiority of humility not only where we
are accustomed to recognise it as a virtue for the individual,

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus. 125

but also where we have hardly awakened to its appro-
priateness,— in the nation that is truly great. He sees that
a great man belittles himself by shouting forth his own great-
ness, and then taking a wider view of things he argues that it is
so with nations also, saying: "A great country is lowly'*
(LXI). Truly he was in advance of his own times and of our
own times too ! Will the nations ever learn this lesson, we
wonder ?

For the individual, at any rate, he says : * * I would return
good for good. I would also return good for evil." (XLIX).
Christians have barely learnt this lesson yet, and it must have
appeared a startling utterance in the days when vengeance for
personal injury was considered a duty.

The motive behind the recompense of good for evil is to be
compassion ; upon this and other qualities of a great mind Lao
Tzu says : —

The true self has three treasures, to which it clings as to
inseparables — the first is compassion ; the second, self-restraint;
the third, nowhere venturing to claim precedence.

Compassionate — therefore irresistible !

Self-restrained — therefore enlarged !

Nowhere venturing to claim precedence — therefore efficient !

Now-a-days men cast compassion on one side, yet expect to
be irresistible ! They discard self-restraint, yet look for enlarge-
ment ; they forget to retire, yet demand precedence ! — this is
death .

Rely upon compassion when you would contend, and you
will overcome ; rely upon compassion when you would protect,
and you will succeed. Heaven is ever ready to deliver because
of the protection compassion brings. (LXVII).

From this he passes on to deal with war : —

The most skilful warriors are not warlike ; the best
fighters are not wrathful ; the mightiest conquerors never
strive ; the greatest masters are ever lowly. (LXVni).

Military commanders have a saying : I dare not act as
host, but only as a guesc ; rather than advance an inch I would
retire a foot . . . There is no Calamity greater than making
light of an enemy ; to make light of the enemy is to endanger
my retention of the treasures. Hence, once the opposing forces
have met, it is the pitiful who conquer. (LXIX).

The idea is that the holder of the Tao should always be
more ready to yield than to give battle ; he is then warned
against his seeming passivity becoming careless indifference
(Medhurst), and even in the midst of warfare he is to remember
his three personal treasures, mentioned above. And further : — -

126 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

The magnificence of the array cannot make it an auspicious
weapon. It is possible that even inanimate nature detests
it. . . . Soldiers are instruments of ill omen. They are not
agents for a Master Thinker. Only when it is inevitable will he
employ them. What he most prizes is quiet and peace. He
will not praise a victory. To do so is to show delight in the
slaughter of men. As for those who delight in the slaughter
of men the world is too small for the gratification of their
desires . . . The slayer of multitudes should bitterly weep and
lament. Having fought and won, it is as if he were presiding
at a funeral. (XXXI).

Legge remarks that "the concluding sentence will suggest to
some readers the words of the Duke of Wellington, after Waterloo,
that to gain a battle was the saddest thing next to losing it."

When one uses the Tao in assisting his sovereign, he will
not employ arms to coerce the State. Such methods easily react.

Where military camps are established briars and thorns
flourish. When great armies are moved through the land
calamities are sure to follow. (XXX).

It is well to remember that Lao Tzu's condemnation of war
had behind it the fact that all the wars he referred to were really
civil wars between men of the same nationality, men of separate
States indeed, but included in the brotherhood of ' ' the black-
haired race." He would apply his remarks to our own times
when the various nations are linked together by commerce, by
post and telegraph, by easy methods of transit and travel, amid
the dawning realisation of the brotherhood of man. Yet that his
view was based upon his own times is apparent as he describes
the State as he would have it, giving a rustic picture of
primitive simplicity : —

A State may be small, and the population sparse, yet the
people should be taught not to rely on force ; they should be
made to comprehend the gravity of death and the futilitj^ of
emigration. Then, though they had boats and carts, they
would have no use of them ; though they had armour and
weapons, they would not display them. They should be taught
to return to the use of the quippo* ; to be content with their
food, their clothing, their dwellings, and to be happy in their
traditions. Though neighbouring States were within sight, and
the people should hear the barking of their dogs and the crowing
of their cocks, they would grow old and die without visiting
them. (LXXX).

It is this Arcadian ideal which helps us to understand Lao
Tzu's views on government. A normal village district in China

I

* Knotted cords for assisting the memory.

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus. 127

to this day is practically self-controlling, asking for nothing but
to be let alone by the authorities. And so he says : —

The empire is won by non-concern . . . The more legis-
lation there is the more thieves and robbers increase. It is for
these reasons that a sage has said : * I do nothing, but the
people spontaneously reform. I love tranquillity, and the people
spontaneously become upright. I have no concerns, and the
people naturally grow wealthy. I am without desire, and of
their own free will the people revert to primitive simplicity '.
(I.VII).

When the government is not in evidence the people are
honest and loyal. When the government is meddlesome the
people are in want. (LVIII).

Govern a great state as you would fry a small fish. (LX).

As this last sentence has puzzled every previous translator,
Mr. Medhurst has an illuminating note to the effect that : "As
a small fish stewing in the pan will be broken up if it be moved
about too much, so will the empire be fatally injured if its
natural development be interfered with ; " which seems to be
Lao Tzu's meaning.

Before leaving the subject of legislation we may note that
Lao Tzu has his views on capital punishment. He says : —

Why use death as a deterrent when the people have no
fear of death ? Even supposing they shrank from death as from
a monster, and by playing on their terror I could slay them, —
should I dare? (LXXIV).

Confucius had a somewhat similar saying : —

Why w^hen governing depend on capital punishment ? Seek
righteousness and the people will be righteous. The relation
between the rulers and the ruled is like that between the wind
and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows
across it. (Analects, XII, 19).

Lao Tzu has pronounced views on property. He says : —

None can protect the hall that is filled with gold and jade.
Opulence, honours, pride, necessarily bequeath calamity. (IX).

Doubtless the lawlessness of hif times helped to emphasize
this.

There is no sin greater than covetousness ; no calamity
greater than discontent ; no fault greater than acquisitiveness.
Who therefore knows the contentment of content possesses
unchanging content. (XL VI) .

He who knows others is shrewd ; he who knows himself is
enlightened. He who conquers others has strength ; but he
who conquers self is mighty. And it is he who knows when
he has enough that is rich. (XXXIII) .

128 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

He is rather difficult to follow in the following sayings : —

The great Tao faded, and there was benevolence and right-
eousness. Worldly wisdom and shrewdness appeared, and there
was much dissembling. The family relationships no longer
harmonious, there was fillial piety and paternal love. The state
and the clans in anarchy, there was loyalty and faithfulness.

Abandon knowledge, discard wisdom — the people will gain
a hundred-fold. Abandon the humanities, discard righteous-
ness— the people will return to filial love. (XVIII-XIX).

Was he speaking in scorn of Confucius' somewhat fussy
advocacy of '' benevolence, righteousness, filial piety, loyalty,
faithfulness, knowledge and wisdom ? ' ' Was his attitude that
of those who profess to disbelieve in the whole medical profes-
sion as being adepts at killing ? Or was his attitude that of
Emerson (whom Mr. Medhurst does not quote in this connection)
when he says : —

Nature will not have us fret and fume. She does not like
our benevolence or our learning much better than she likes our
frauds and wars. When we come out of the caucus, or the
bank, or the Abolition convention, or the Temperance meeting
or the Transcendental Club, into the fields and woods, she says
to us : * So hot, my little Sir ? '

Mr. Medhurst' s note on the passage contains the remark
that "Virtues and duties are separative, subtle forms of self-
assertion, something lower than that ideal of ideals which
identifies itself with the All and in the joy of service annihi-
lates self". And his whole translation is consistent with this
view, rendering as he does the word Teh (in the title of the
work, Tao Teh King) by "energy," where it occurs in
the text.

The path to the true potency of life, according to Lao Tzu,
may be sketched by threading together various passages in his
exceedingly unarranged book. It begins at the abandonment of
all Pharisaism, the favour of men must be disregarded; then self-
consciousness must be purged away, and passivity to the Tao,
quiescence and spontaneity must be gained. Lao Tzu says : —

Merit established, a name made, then retirement — this is
the way of heaven. (IX).

Equally fear favour and disgrace . . . What is meant by
' Equally fear favour and disgrace ? * Favour should be dis-
paraged. Gained or lost it arouses apprehension. (XIII).

Good doers leave no tracks. (XXVII).

One conscious of virility, maintaining nuiliebrity is a world-
channel. From a world-channel the unchanging energy never
departs. . .

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus. 129

One conscious of bris^htness, placid in shade, is a world-
model. In a world-model the unchanging energy remains
undimished. . .

One conscious of merit, content in disgrace, is a world-
valley [into which streams of energy may flow as rivers in the
valley]. In a world-valley the unchanging energy is suffi-
cient. . . (XXVIII).

Nature continues long. What is the reason that nature
continues long ? Because it produces 7iothhig for itself it is
able to constantly produce.

It is for this reason that the Holy Man puts himself in the
background ; yet he comes to the front. He is indifferent to
himself ; yet he is preserved. Is it not because he has no inter-
ests of his own that he is able to secure his interests ? (VII).

By undivided attention to the soul, rendering it passive, it
is possible to become as an infant child. By purifying the mind
of phantasms it is possible to become without fault. (X).

Close the doors of the senses, blunt the sharp, unravel the
confused, harmonise the dazzling, become one with the all . . .
There will then be neither love nor hate, profit nor loss, favour
nor disgrace. There is nothing nobler than this in the universe.
(LVI).

Practice non-action. Be concerned with non-concern. Taste
the flavourless. Account the small as great and the few as
many. For hatred return perfection. (LXIII).

Abstraction complete, quiescence maintained unalloyed . . .
then all things return again to the root . . . Knowledge of this
unchanging rule leads to toleration. Toleration leads to com-
prehension. Comprehension leads to sovereignty. Sovereignty
leads to heaven-likeness, heaven-likeness leads to the Tao.
The Tao leads to continuity. Though the body be no more,
there will be no danger. (XVI).

In this last passage Lao Tzu joins hands with an ancient
Hindoo in one of the Upanishads : " When all the bonds of the
heart are broken, then the man becomes immortal. Though
the body be no more, there is then no danger." And with
Plato, who says : —

He who has been earnest in the love of knowledge and of
true wisdom, and has exercised his intellect more than any
other part of him, u:ust have thgughts immortal and divine if
he attain truth, and in so far as human nature is capable of
sharing in immortality, he must be altogether immortal. (77-
maeus. Jowett, Vol. iii, p. 513).

And so Lao Tzil says in another place : —

Who never departs from his base endures long ; he die's,
but does not perish ; he lives eternally. (XXXIII).

One startling utterance of Lao Tzii must be mentioned
before we may sum up his system. He says : —

130 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

Yes and yea, — are they not almost alike ? Good and
evil, — are they not akin ? (XX).

He may mean that the so-called virtue of the world is as wide
of the mark as its evil, and that there is not goodness but that of
an unconscious sort. But it is possible that this and all his utter-
ances "may fall into place when we consider what was at the basis
of his system. His model was nature as seen around him on the
hills. A decade or so back the writer pointed out, in articles
for home magazines, that the system of Lao Tzii might be
understood by reference to the familiar lines of Bishop Heber : —

. . . every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile.

Lao Tzii saw that trees and flowers grew strong and beauti-
ful not by effort, but by being passive to the great nature-force,
and argued that if men only " waited upon " that force with
sufficent self-surrender and quietude, they too would grow strong
and beautiful in character and conduct. Mr. Medhurst agrees
with this, saying : —

Lao Tzu holds that nature provides a perfect example iu
her inactive activity. The vegetable kingdom is Lao Tzii's
ideal. It plants without seeking fruit ; it never mars by its
effort to accomplish ; everything is left to develop according to
its own nature. (Foreword, p. xii).

Mr. Medhurst calls his work '' A Short Study in Compara-
tive Religion." Let us compare the system of Lao Tzu with
that of others, and then notice its basal assumption.

In ancient Chaldean, Egyptian, Aryan, and (somewhat in)
Chinese literature we have foregleams of the doctrine of a
Heavenly Father, as might be shown at length. We have also
in the Chaldean penitential psalms, and less markedly in some
Egyptian, Aryan and Chinese writings of antiquity, a sense of
the sin against the Divine. In Lao Tzu we have foregleams of
the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, on whom to wait is to be '* endued
with power from on hi<^h," but not of sin against a deity con-
ceived as personal. With Lao Tzu the supreme source of energy
is impersonal and nameless ; its energies are to be obtained by
passivity rather than prayer ; the task needs no reconstruction
of heart (reconstruction or destruction was the alternative that
Jesus put before Nicodemus), but just the suppression of self-
consciousness and the suspension of passion and effort, — man
having an inner self so essentially related to the Tao that no
radical overturning of a usurper need be contemplated. Neither

1906.] Lao Tzu Redivivus. 131

the world, the flesh, nor the devil need be reckoned with as an
enemy to be subdued. Quiescence will mean self-righting under
the potency-in-iuaction of the infinite Tao.

The philosophy of Lao Tzti is the philosophy of the vegeta-
ble ivorld applied to human life. The Tao is described as
" Producing, nourishing, developing, without self-conscious-
ness. Acting without seeking the fruit. Progressing without
thinking of growth. This is the abyss of energy " (XXXIX).
And the assumption of Lao Tzu is that the true nature of man
is similar to that of the cabbage or the wild rose (which are
presumed to perfect themselves without cultivation). Man
need not

Move upward, working out the beast,
And let the ape and tiger die.

He is essentially of the vegetable order of things, and by
recognising his oneness with the vegetable, all will be well.
And this doctrine is said to be adequate for all ages. **Lay
hold of this ancient doctrine ; apply it in controlling the things
of the present day,'' he says (XIV). Let us take him at his
word and do so. '^The Holy Man promotes the natural
development of things without venturing to interfere" (LXIV).
Let this principle be applied by mothers to their little ones;
they must not reprove or correct ; let it be applied to boys and
girls in their teens; schools and colleges will be seen to vio-
late the principle of non-interference. Let it be applied to the
criminal classes, whose crime seems so natural to them. Let
it be applied to disease, remembering that microbes are as
much included in the All as are the human bodies wherein
they find *' natural development." Then, if it succeeds, as
Lao Tzu promises it will, there arises before the mind a beauti-
ful dream of self-corrected infants growing up into self-educated
youths and maidens, of self-rectified criminals becoming too
perfect to claim any virtue, and of multitudes healed of self-
healing diseases, bowing down befere the ancient likeness of
Lao Tzu and owning him — in the words of the seventh em-
peror of the T'ang dynasty — ^* Lord of the myriad religions."*
But in case that dream should not come true in our days,
we may perhaps be content to regard Lao Tzii as a noble setter-
forth of some less-obvious truths rather than a fully- inspired
** witness to The Truth."

* Hsuau Tsung, 713-755 A.D.

132 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

Bishop Westcott on Missions.

V.

BY RKV. ARNOLD FOSTER, L.M.S., WUCHANG.

** The Word was early perceived by that part of the Church which most
fully comprehended the completeness of revelation and redemption. There
was danger on that side, the danger of the Truth becoming no more than
a philosophy, and faith in the Son which was needed to sustain the faith
in the Word was in the end substituted for it. But the old faith in the
Word must be revived if the Creed is to stand, if Christianity is to be a knowl-
edge. It was the definiteness and personality given to the Word by its
identification with the Son that diflferenced it from previous doctrines of
a word or words : and now fifteen centuries have so firmly fixed the idea
of Sonship that there can be no risk that the Church itself should ever merge
Him in the Word." Dr. Hort, Hidsean Lectures, p. 214.

IN my previous paper I gave at length an exposition by
Bishop Westcott of our Lord's title 'the Christ.' In
presenting the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the
heathen the need for showing it in its connexion with the
Divinely ordered history and Messianic hopes of Israel can never
cease. ' The power of Judaism lay in the fact that it was not
simple deism, but the gradual preparation for the Incarnation.' *
* As often as we repeat the words / believe in Jesus Christy
we bear witness to the work of Judaism ; we acknowledge how
through long ages God was preparing a people as ministers of
His will, by the vicissitudes of bondage and victory, of dominion
and exile, by isolation and dispersion, by the hard restraints
of the Law and by the spiritual enthusiasm of the Prophets ;
how the hope, which was the foundation of the race, that in
them all the nations of the earth should be blessed^ gained
definiteness and power from the changeful fortunes of nearly
two thousand years,' f * Judaism proclaimed most impressively
three fundamental facts with which it dealt provisionally ; and
a sympathetic intelligence of that to which it witnessed and of
that which it offered leads to the true understanding of Chris-
tianity as the divine accomplishment of the education of the
world, (a) Judaism affirmed that the destiny of humanity
is the attainment of likeness to God, an end to be reached
under the actual conditions of life only through restrictions
and painful eifort. The holiness of God, to which man has
to be conformed, is on the one side love and on the other side
righteousness. (b) Judaism again affirmed that man, as he

♦St. John iv. 22. Note.

t TJie Historic Faith. Macmillans, pp. 47, 48.

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. I33

is, cannot at his own pleasure or in his own right draw near
to God. The ceremonial law in all its parts deepened the
consciousness of sin. (c) And yet again, Judaism affirmed that it
was the good pleasure of God to enter into Covenant with man,
of which external institutions were the abiding sign and seal, a
testimony at once and a promise. The writer of the Epistle
[to the Hebrews] shows from the position of the believing Jew
how the revelation of the Son of God deals with these facts
finally .... Under this aspect the significant emphasis
which the writer lays upon the prse-Judaic form of Revelation
becomes fully intelligible. The Gospel, as he presents it, is the
fulfilment of the purposes of creation and not only of the Mosaic
system. Melchizedek is a more prominent figure in his treat-
ment of the Old Testament than Abraham. [The office of
Christ goes beyond Israel. He fulfils as Priest-king the ethnic
type of Melchizedek in whom the highest authorities in civil
and religious life is seen united, p. 490.] Thus the work
of Judaism is made to appear as a stage in the advance towards
a wider work which could not be achieved without a preparatory
discipline. So regarded the provisions of the Law can be seen
in their full meaning, and by the help of their typical teaching
a suffering Messiah can be acknowledged in His Majesty by the

true Jew That which was an answer to the difficulties

of the Hebrew Christian has been made the endowment of the
whole Church. For in this Epistle we have what is found in
no other book of the New Testament, that which may be called
a philosophy of religion, of worship, of priesthood centred in the
Person of Christ. The form of the doctrine is determined by
the Old Testament foundations, but the doctrine itself is
essentially new. In the light of the Gospel the whole teaching
of the Old Testament is seen to be a prophecy, unquestionable
in the breadth and fulness of its scope. ' *

How important a bearing on missionary work the foregoing
passages have, will be at once perceived by all who have heard,
as I have, even Missionaries classing Judaism with Buddhism,
Taoism and other ethnic religions, and Moses with Confucius ;
or questioning, as I have seen it questioned even in the official
organ of a great Missionary Society, whether * * the gain or the
loss would be greater if native converts were fed entirely in
their early years on the New Testament," i.e., to the exclusion
of the Old Testament. * The tendency ' of which Dr. Hort

* Ep, to Hebrews. Macmillans, pp. Iv-lvii ; 490.

134 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

speaks ' to falsify Christianity by detaching it from the history
of the Divine office of the earlier Israel ' is constantly manifest-
ing itself, and its influence will always be specially felt where-
ever the idea of a redeemed Church the firstfruits of a redeemed
Race^ and the idea of a conquering Kingdo7n^ 'an elect race,
a holy nation, a people for God's own possession,' which are
the central ideas of redemption that we meet with in the New
Testament, have given way to the idea of ' a plan of salvation '
designed merely to enable individuals as units to attain to personal
safety and personal sanctification. Very suggestive in this con-
nexion are some of Dr. Westcott's notes in his Commentary on
such passages as St. John x. i6 ; xi. 51, 52 ; xii. 32. ' Other
sheep. In the case of the Gentiles there was no outward unity.
They did not form a ' ' fold ' ' as the Jews, whose work was
realized through an outward organization. They 'were ''scat-
tered abroad" (xi. 52).' 'The change in the original from
"fold " to "flock " is most striking, and reveals a new thought
as to the future relations of Jew and Gentile. Elsewhere stress
is laid upon their corporate union (Rom. xi. 17 ff.) and upon the
admission of the Gentiles to the Holy City (Is. ii. 3) ; but here
the bond of fellowship is shown to lie in the common [collective]
relation to One Lord. *

From Dr. Westcott's teaching in regard to our Lord as 'the
Christ ' we pass to his teaching on His title as ' the Word ' or
*the Logos.' By this term, he says, St. John leads us 'to
regard all creation as springing directly from the Divine will
and all life as centering in the Divine presence ; he encourages
us to embrace the great truth that in all ages and in all lands
God holds converse with His children, and that through all
darkness and all desolation a light shineth which lighteneth
every man.' This theme is one to which Dr. Westcott con-
stantly refers in his writings, and that in many aspects of it.*
The passages I have selected to quote are chosen chiefly with a
view to illustrating both the two points just referred to, viz.,
(i) the relation of ' the Word ' to all created existence, (2) the
assertion that He is ' the Light that lighteneth every man. ' The
term itself. Dr. Westcott points out, has probably a reference to
Gen. i. 3 ff. "God said." But 'in considering St. John's teach-
ing on the Logos, it is obvious . . . that it is properly a

*See e.g. Commentary on vSt. John (Murray), pp. xv.-xviii., pp. 1-16. Notes.
*The Incarnation and Common Life ' Preface. ' Christus Consummator,' pp.
99-160. Peterborough Sermons, p. 182, 1. 184.

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 135

question of doctrine not of nomenclature.' 'The same terms
or phrases may be used by schools which have no affinity, and in
senses that are essentially distinct.' ' It may be assumed that
St. John, when he speaks of 'the Word,' 'the Only-begotten',
and of His relations to God and to the world, and to man,
employs a vocabulary which refers to modes of thought which
were already current when he wrote. . . . When he declares
with abrupt emphasis that ' the Word was in the beginning '
and that 'the Word became flesh,' it is evident that he is
speaking of ' a Word ' already known in some degree by the
title, though he lays down new truths as to His being. . . .
Those whom he addressed knew of Whom he was speaking, and
were able to understand that which it was his office to make
known about Him. ' But ' it is admitted on all hands that
his central affirmation 'The Word became flesh,' which
underlies all he wrote, is absolutely new and unique. A Greek,
an Alexandrine, a Jewish doctor, would have equally refused to
admit such a statement as a legitimate deduction from his
principles, or as reconcileable with them. The message com-
pletes and crowns 'the hope of Israel,' but not as 'the Jews'
expected. It gives stability to the aspirations of humanity after
fellowship with God, but not as philosophers had supposed, by
* unclothing ' the soul. St. John had been enabled to see what
Jesus of Nazareth was, ' the Christ ' and ' the Son of God ; ' it
remained for him to bring home his convictions to others (xx.
31) . . . [He did so] by using with necessary modifications the
current language of the highest religious speculation to inter-
pret a fact, to reveal a Person, to illuminate the fulness of actual
life. Accordingly he transferred to the region of history the
phrases in which men before him had spoken of ' the Logos ' —
'the Word,' 'the Reason' — in the region of metaphysics. St.
Paul had brought home to believers the divine majesty of the
glorified Christ : St. John laid open the unchanged majesty of
'Jesus come in the flesh.' '* .

The bearings of the doctrine are essentially practical.
*If the confession of God as the Creator of heaven and
earth brings all things very near to us, much more does the
confession of our belief in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God
[the Word] 'through whom are all things and we through
Him.' By this confession we learn to see how that connexion
of the Son with Man, which was completed by the Incarnation,

^Commentary on St, John, p, xv,

136 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

was prepared by manifold revelations of His power and love
from ' the beginning ' ; how He was ever coming into the
world which He had made, as its true light ; how He was ever
present in the world as its true life. By this confession we
learn to see how He Who has redeemed us by taking our nature
to Himself is the Author of every noble thought which has been
uttered by unconscious prophets, of every fruitful deed of
sacrifice which has been wrought by statesmen and heroes, of
every triumph of insight and expression by which students
and artists have interpreted the harmonies and depths of nature.
So we claim for Christ with patient confidence, in spite of every
misrepresentation and misunderstanding, ' whatsoever is true,
and noble, and just, and pure, and lovely, and gracious,' what-
soever witnesses to man's proper being and rightly demands his
praise ; we claim for Him ' through whom are all things, ' all
things which are, all things which abide in the presence of
God. In virtue of this our faith we affirm the reality of a
dominion of Christ which is often unacknowledged and often
denied ; we welcome as fellow-subjects and fellow-labourers
those who repudiate our greeting. ' *

* * Apart from Me, ' Christ says, ' ye can do nothing. ' We
dare not limit the force of the words ; they are of universal
application. However startling they may be, our own experi-
ence can tell us that they are true. It is only by the Presence
of Christ, of Christ the Word of God, that anything really is ... .
Whatever is, apart from Christ, is nothing ; whatever ?>, is in
Him. Every act of sacrifice, wherever and however wrought, is
an inspiration of the Word. He is obeyed, and may we thank
God for the conviction, even where He is not known, and
served where He has not openly revealed Himself. There have
been in every age those who shall meet the welcome of the Son
of Man when He appears in His glory with the cry of wonder,
* IvOrd, when saw we thee ....?' and hear the voice of fullest
benediction, * Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of my
brethren, ye did it unto Me.' 'f

It was this conviction that *the Word,' even Christ, has
been acting on men's hearts and consciences and producing in
their lives effects worthy of His name, even in many cases
where His name and personality were not known, that drew
from Augustine 'the bold saying,' as it has been called, that

*The Historic Faith. Macmillans, pp. 50, 51.
t Peterborough Sermons. Iklacmillans, pp. 56, 57,

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 137

what we now call the Christian religion existed from the dawn
of the human race, though it only began to be named Christian
when Christ came in the flesh.* "The Word acts by His
presence as well as by His special advent. ' ' It was this thought
that made Bishop Westcott delight to recall instances of actions
performed by men altogether outside the Christian covenant
that no Christian who has once heard of them can ever forget.

* Oh, my friends,' he exclaims in a sermon on Col. i. 19, 20,

* what an inexhaustible motive for labour lies in the revela-
tion of one humanity, one in Creation, one in Redemption,
one potentially in Christ. We cannot, if we would, gain
our happiness alone : we cannot be saved alone. There is a
wonderful Indian legend which tells how a Buddhist saint had
reached by successive lives of sacrifice the stage next to Nir-
vana. At that point he could by one effort of will obtain for
himself eternal and untroubled calm. But when the decision
had to be made he set aside the tempting prize, and chose
rather to live again in the world while conflict could bear fruit.
^ Not,' he said, 'till the last soul on every earth and in every
hell has found peace can I enter on my rest.' Do we not feel
the Christian truth which is enshrined in this splendid story ?
Not for ourselves only, as some peculiar and private blessing,
is the Gospel given, the Gospel of Creation, the Gospel of
the Word Incarnate. It is for the world ; and it is laid upon
us, upon each one of us, to realize what Christ has wrought
for men, to claim for Him the fruits of His victory. 'f
Earlier in the same sermon, which is entitled The hicarna-
tion and the Fall^ and which should be read in its
entirety to give a proper idea of the power of various
passages in it. Dr. Westcott says : ' Taught in this great school
[the school of human fellowship] w^e are coming to understand
why the human instinct has always rejoiced in the stories of
uncalculating self-devotion which brighten the annals of every
people : why our hearts respond to tHe words of a Chinese king,
contemporary with Jacob, who said to his people, ' When guilt
is found anywhere in you who occupy the myriad regions, let it
rest on me the One man, ' and faithful to his prayer said again,
when a human victim was demanded to avert a drought ' If a
man must be the victim, I will be he.' Similarly in his book,
*The Christian Life Manifold and One,' Dr. Westcott points

* Quoted by Bishop Lightfoot from Aug. Retract y i. 13.
tChristus Consummator, pp. 126, 127.

138 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

out how our Lord in His teaching twice deliberately gives an
object lesson to His hearers, drawn not from the lives of devout
Jews who had been brought up in the fellowship of the old
covenant, but from their despised neighbours the Samaritans,
who were strangers and aliens. ' A student of the Law who
had rightly penetrated to its meaning and sought by deeds to
inherit eternal life, required to be placed face to face with an
ideal. This do and thoit shall live.'' The example which Christ
placed before him was given in the parable by which He has
immortalized a Samaritan as showing a compassion worthy of
Himself. ' We require to be pointed to deeds of heroism and
devotion in those from whom we are most widely separated in
order that we may feel the bond of the common nature which
underlies every difference of class and creed.' In a second
sermon in the same book, on St. Luke xvii. 15, he says * [We
have seen] in the action of a Samaritan a luminous commentary
on the Law of which he was held to be the enemy .... In the
person of an alien, the Lord then set before us the type of our
duty to man. He sets before us again in the person of an alien
the type of our duty to God. The coincidence is not to be
overlooked. It is as if He would teach us among other things
this great lesson, that instinct ratifies the Gospel and forces
us to recognize in the deeds of strangers to our covenant
the principles which ought to be the necessary spring of
all we do or think.' 'A common misery, we read, had
brought together men who otherwise had no dealings with
one another. As lepej's the Jew and the Samaritan were
equal. In distant isolation they confessed their common
uncleanness afar off. They lifted up one voice of prayer.
They received one testing command. All alike proved faithful
under this trial, and all alike were cleansed. Then appeared
the difference which lay deep in their inmost souls, deeper
even than the springs of faith. One — one only of the ten —
when he saw that he was healed^ turned back and with a loud
voice glorified God and fell down at Jesns^ feet giving
Him thanks^ and he was a Sarnaritan. . . . What, we may ask,
did he gain more than his fellows ? . . . . They found the bless-
ing, but he found the spring of blessing. They experienced the
action of life, but he reached to soul of life. ... He could not
make the prescribed offering in the Temple of God till he had
rendered grateful worship to Him, in whom he had found the
Presence of God.' Are not the thoughts suggested in these

1906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. I39

two sermons thoughts that we need as Missionaries to ponder ?
Would not Missionary literature be often more helpful and more
uplifting in its influence on the Chinese for whom it is written,
and especially for Chinese Christian readers, if there were more
in it of cordial recognition of the faith of Chinese heroes by
which they have wrought deeds, not of brute daring but of
noble human bravery in the cause of what conscience — the light
of ' the Word ' whom we know, though they do not, as the
Incarnate Lord — told them was right and true ? On Heb. xi.
31 Bishop Westcott has the following note: 'The record of
the separation of the people of God from Egypt is closed by
the incorporation of a stranger. . . . The addition of the title
* the harlot' places in a fuller light the triumph of Faith.
The list of champions of Faith whose victories are specially
noticed is closed by a woman and a gentile and an outcast.
In this there is a significant foreshadowing of its essential
universality.'

It remains to quote a few passages illustrative of Dr. West-
cott's teaching in regard to 'the Word' in His relation to all
creation. That aspect of our Christian faith should be full of
inspiration to those of us who in these days of a desire for educa-
tion amongst the Chinese, are called on to teach Natural Science
or any other kind of knowledge to Chinese students. " /?z your
virttie supply knowledge. . . . For the Christian knowledge is
sacred. As we know anything better in any real sense of the
word we know Christ better." These words, which I quoted
in full in their context, in the first of the present series of
papers, are but an amplification of the words of the Apostle
when speaking of Christ he says : ' In Him were all things
created in the heavens above and upon the earth, things visible
and things invisible .... all things have been created through
Him and in Him all things hold together,' and again ' In Whom
[Christ] are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.'
I know of hardly any poorer oonception of a great office
that that of a Christian teacher whose sole idea of ' religious
education ' is merely the supplementing with a certain amount
of Bible teaching a general course of instruction in which the
thought of the Divine Word as at the centre of everything has
no place. I hope in a later paper of this series to give some of
Bishop Westcott's utterances on education, its aim and method,
but here I would only draw attention to the way in which he
was accustomed to think and speak of all subjects with which

140 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

ordinary instruction has to do. For him nature and all its
wonders, human life with all its mysteries and all its interests,
history, language, art and everything else, was a revelation of
life, a manifestation of the purposes of God, to be studied with
reverence and in the expectation of seeing in it that which in
due time would illuminate and strengthen faith. ' The world
is not a great museum of specimens to be arranged with exhaust-
ive knowledge, but a revelation of life, where knowledge is
the herald of reverence and the minister of love.'* He had no
sympathy with those who would ' attempt to investigate one
domain of knowledge by the method which belongs to another,*
with those, e. g., on the one hand who assume that nothing can
be known of God and of things unseen and eternal which cannot
be proved by the methods of physical science, or with those on
the other hand, who oppose with foregone conclusions of their
own concerning God's method of working in creation or else-
where, the well ascertained results of scientific research or of
literary criticism. ' There is a general tendency to extend the
sway of one science into the domain of that which borders upon
it. To take only the most general examples, materialism is an
invasion of theology by physics ; pietism is an invasion of
physics by theology. And even if there is no actual trespass, it is
as perilous to study a lower subject without regard to the higher,
as to study a higher subject without regard to the lower.' f
* We may be amazed and grieved at the haste and onesidedness
and intolerance of many popular teachers of physics : we may
sympathize with the alarm of those who confound the facts of
science with the opinions of the student. But if we are touched
by the spirit of this place [Cambridge], we shall be lifted
up to a region above all personal conflicts or interests. All
Truth is ours; and we are Christ's. For him who believes in
the Incarnation it is not too much to say, that wherever some-
thing more is made known of the processes whereby God works
in Nature, something more of the dependence of man on man,
something more of the unity of our whole being, there, whether
in contention or in sincerity, in ignorance or in knowledge,
Christ is preached ; and such a one rejoices as he looks onward
beyond the storm and tumult — rejoices in the wider vision which
he gains of the infinite perfection of the Divine plan — rejoices in
the closer sense which he realizes of his fellowsliip with the

*Christus Consummator, p. 141.

fTlie Religions Ofiicc of the Universities, p. 67,

4906.] Bishop Westcott on Missions. 141

Saviour in Whom he lives.' * The foregoing quotations should
be read in their context and in connexion with much else that
will be found in Dr. Westcott' s writings if we would fully realize
the calm, penetrating faith with which he habitually looked forth
on the whole revelation of 'the Word,' whether as uttering
the thought of God in Scripture or as gradually discovering
itself in Nature, in history and in every other region of the
universe of which we have any cognizance. Nowhere perhaps
do we get a better glimpse of his general attitude toward
such questions than in some of his sermons on the ' Vision of
the Prophet', for to him the prophet was not the man who can
write history beforehand, but the man whose eyes have been
opened to see things as they are in the light of God, and whose
heart has been touched to tell forth to others the things that
have been revealed to his own inmost spirit. The foresight of the
prophet is begotten of his insight. Three chapters on ' The Call
of the Prophet' will be found in '"Peterborough Sermons'* :
the first on 'Isaiah,' the second on 'Jeremiah,' the third
on ' Ezekiel. ' In the latter the writer says : ' However we
may interpret or shrink from interpreting the details of that
which [Ezekiel] saw, we feel that the whole complicated imagery
suggests to us a conception of the living unity of all created
being, instinct with a divine spirit ; and obedient to a divine
impulse in every part ; and high above all, our eyes rest upon
the appearance of a man. In accordance with this pictured
thought the teaching of Ezekiel is predominantly social. ' ' If we
need to deepen our sense of holiness by the vision of God's
Majesty ; if we need to deepen our sense of trust by the vision
of His Providence ; we need also to quicken our courage by
the vision of His Presence, of the all-quickening might where-
by He binds all things together and yet preserves to each its
true freedom. Yes, we need courage to look with unflinching,
open-eyed resolution upon the riddles of life ; to hold firmly
truths which to our feeble powers»appear conflicting ; to stand
patiently even in the darkness, if God shows no way ; to wel-
come the pressure of His hand though it carries us whither
we would not.' ' Even now the Spirit is speaking to us . . .
speaking in the language of men, of the men of our own
generation. But He speaks, as He spoke of old time, in un-
expected ways — through history, through criticism, through
science, through life. He tries the faith which He enlarges.

*Th.e Religious Ofl&ce of the Universities, pp. 14, 15.

142 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

He may require us to go /;/ bitterness of soul for the loss of
some fancied good. . But our joy must still be to feel the hand
of the Lord strong upon us. '

Thus, to take one illustration only, we may be unspeakably
thankful, though many have found it a hard lesson, to these
strange, unwilling, or at least unconscious prophets, who have
taught us, more plainly than ever before, our dependence one
on another and upon our environment in nature. St. Paul and
St. John taught the same truths, but men could not read their
teaching without the commentary of outward experience. ' The
creation itself also,' St. Paul has written for our learning,
' shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
liberty of the glory of the children of God.' We can feel at
length something of what this assurance means. Such a
promise makes it possible for us to look into the depths of the
starry sky, to look into the form of teeming life disclosed beneath
some chance stone, not only without wondering fear, but with
thankful joy. Here also God is working. Wheels within
wheels, wings touching wings, full of eyes and flashing with
fire ; such is, in Ezekiel's view, the image of the universe, and
a voice comes even unto us, ' Blessed be the glory of the Lord
from His place,''

NoTK. — I cannot forbear quoting here two noble passages from Bp. Lightfoot
on the Ep. to Colossians, pp. 116-118, bearing on the foregoing paper: " How
mvich more hearty would be the sympathy of theologians with the revelations
of science and the developments of history, if they habitually connected them
with the operation of the same Divine Word who is the centre of all their
religious aspirations, it is needless to say. Through the recognition of this
idea with all the consequences which flow from it, as a living influence, more
than in any other way, may we hope to strike the chords of that ' vaster
music,' which results only from the harmony of knowledge and faith, of
reverence and research."

" The language of the New Testament is beset with difficulties so long as
we conceive of our Lord only in connexion with the Gospel revelation ; but,
when with the Apostles we realize in Him the same Divine Word who is and
ever has been the light of the whole world, who before Christianity wrought
first in mankind at large through the avenues of the conscience, and afterwards
more particularly in the Jews through a special though still imperfect revela-
tion, then all these difficulties fall away. Then we understand the significance,
and we recognize the truth of such passages as these : ' No man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me ; ' ' There is no salvation in any other ; ' ' He that
disbelieveth the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon
Him.' The exclusive claims advanced in Christ's name have their full and
perfect justification in the doctrine of the Eternal Word."

i906.] Statistics of Missions whose Head-quarters are at Hangchow.

143

Statistics of Missions and Churches whose Head-quarters are at
Hangchow for the year ^ g^, ending January 24, 1906.

Actual Com-

Adults bap-

Accepted ap-

Contributed by

Missionary Socikties, Missions,

municants.

tized during

plicants lor

Chinese.

AND Churches.

the year.

baptism.

Church

Alms (A)

M. F.

M. F.

M. F.

Fund.

Miss., etc.

CHURCH ]

1864 Hang chow

100 78

10 9

12 9

$264.30

1343-35

MISSION-

1876 River Hsiens (B)

30 48

7 9

21 6

56.00

20.90

ARY

Chu-ki, W.

194 73

24 14

70 20

210.00

64.00

SOCIETY.

\ „ E.

86 33

30 13

65 35

100.00

64.00

P'u-kyang (C)

10 4

6 I

16.00

...

C.C.M.S. Dis- \

C.M.S. .

trici, 2 Hsiens \

10 7

5 ...

7 •••

26.00

8.00

(D) J

I. Totals

673

121

252

$1,172.55

AMKRI- >!

1865 Hang chow

98 67

14 8

10 7

$219.00

$100.00

CAN

Sin-z

85 32

18 4

15 7

129.00

114.20

PRKSBY-

Tongyang

43 33

3 5

4 ...

20.00

58.00

TKRIAN

^ Hai-men

8 6

2 ...

2 I

...

14.50

MISSION,

P'u-kyang

6 3

I ...

...

NORTH.

I-wu, Dzang-loh

12 4

8 ...

4 ...

...

2.50

A.P.M.N.J

II. Totals

397

63

50

$657.20

CHINA ^

1 866 Hang chow

27 33

I ...

4 5

I72.42

I28.95

Fu-yangy Sin-dzen

43 8

II ...

21 10

18.00

354.00

INLAND

Yii-'ang, Lin-an

35 17

3 ...

20 4

26.80

118.71

Dong- HI

Chn-ki, Ru-kyang

9 3

7 3

acts, not rec'd.

MISSION.

31 10

65 7

7.00 1 ...

(H.)

Siao-san

12 15

4 2

7 II

acts, not rec'd.

An-fs'ang

23 8

3 ...

34 16

29.00 23.91

C.I.M. J

An-kyih

8 5

I ...

5 3

n.oo 2.00

III. Totals

287

25

222

$691.79

AMERI- ^

1868

CAN

b/,^ { T'ien-swe Gyao
I'l ■ T^ai-bin Gyao
■ ^ "^ [ Tso-kya Gyao

21 54

2 16

3 9

195-93

$24.93

PRESBY-

125 21

2 ...

6 I

75.13

107.00

TERIAN

7 8

10

20 50

MISSION,

Teh-tsHn

156 68

25 10

56

212.43

SOUTH.

Lin-an

17 I

9 ••.

6

15.00

...

A.P.M.S. J

IV. Totals

378

64

91

I550.92

AMERI-

CAN

BAPTIST

\ Hangchow

46, 23

14 6

10 3

$39.90

$78.70

UNION

V. Totals

A.B M.

69

20

13

$118.60

Totals presented Jan. 25, 1906

1,804

293

628

$3,191.06

Feb. 4, 1905

1,676

243

614

3,056.00

,, 16, 1904

1,479

229

377

3.048.58

10, 1899

990

115

322

1, 493- 30

V - ,. 6, 1894

685

79

117

707.14

Jan. 31, 1889

430

32

75

496.13

,, 28, 1884

350

36

41

320.00

Notes to Table of Statistics.— A. Alms, etc. These include, in the case of the C. M. S., con-
tnbutions to C. C. M. S., English School at Shao-hsiug, Alms, Church Repairs, and Gleaners' Union.
B. Siao-san and those portions of Fuyang and Dong-lii which lie on the right bank of the River, c!
No returns having been received of C. M. S. work in P'u-kyang, last vear's returns are repeated.
D. Sin-dzen and that part of Fu-yang which lies on the left bank of tbeRiver. E. The work of this
Mission is scattered over eleven or twelve hsiens.

144 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

Notes on the Statistics.
My Dear Sir : (i). The general results of the past year
in our Hangchow Missions are as follows : —

I. For the C. M. S. are returned ComniiLnicants 673, or
nineteen fewer than last year ; Adztlts baptized 121, or thirty-
seven more than last year ; Catechinjiens^ or accepted applicants
for baptism^ 252, or fifty-one more than last year ; and Total

Contributions to the support of the Church, Missions, English
School, Alms, etc., $1,172.55, or $4.10 less than last year.

II. For the A. P. M., N. — Commtinicants 397, or twenty-
seven more than last year ; Adults baptized 63, or six more
than last year ; Catechumens 50, or thirty less than last year ;
and Total Contributions $657.20, or $1.40 less than last year.

III. For the C. 1. M. — Commtmicants 287, or twenty-seven
more than last year (when, however, its returns, as now, were
said to be incomplete) ; Adults baptized 25, or five fewer than
last year ; Catechiunens 222, or thirty-six less than last year ;
and ContribtUions $691.79, or $62.78 less than last year.

IV. For the A. P. M., S. — Coimminicants were 378, or
twenty-four more than last year ; Adidts baptized 64, or eight
fewer than last year; Catechiunens 91, or sixteen more than last
year ; and Contributions $550.92, or $84.74 more than last year.

V. This year, for the first time, the Baptist Union Mission
at Zwen-iu Gyao has kindly sent us statistics as follows : Co7n-
vtunicants 69, of whom a third are females ; Baptized during
the year 20, of whom six are females ; Catechumens 13, of whom
three are females ; and Contributions $118.60.

(2). The general estimate of things in the aggregate is not
perhaps discouraging, but certain of its features are disquieting.
Both the Presbyterian Missions report an increase in the number
of Communicants, the Northern Church a considerable one ; whilst
the latter shews a notable increase in its pecuniary collections.

The returns from the able native head of the C. I. M. , both
this year and last, were obviously imperfect, and for this reason,
as well as in view of the serious difficulty of superintending
missionary and pastoral work in not less than eleven counties
(hsien), without numerous assistants, it is hard to say whether
the report is promising or not. In common with my own
Church, the C. I. M. seems usually (shall I say) burdened with
a redundance of Catechumens^ or what profess to be such. Last
year we reported 201 such persons, of whom 121 were baptized,
whilst the C. I. M. reported 255, of whom twenty-five, not

1906.J Statistics of Missions whose Head-quarters are at Hangchow. 145

one in ten, have proceeded to baptism. Yet, undeterred, we
report 252, and the C. I. M. 222, this year.

It is to be feared that the attraction, for many, if not most,
of these applicants, is the prestige of our church rather than
the grace of our Lord.

(3). Another chronic cause for anxiety is the paucity of
female Christians. The total number of communicants in five
missions is returned as 1,804, or deducting the Baptist Union, now
for the first time reported, 1,735, heing fifty-nine more than last
year's total. Taking, however, the grand total, 1,804, it appears
that 1,142 of these communicants are men, only 662 females;
that is to say, for each female communicant there are in our Chris-
tian communities nearly two males ; and a further inference is that
not much more than half of our male communicants are husbands
of Christian women. Certain districts, however, are even less
satisfactory than the average. The two Chuki pastoral districts
return between tliem 280 male communicants to only 106 females,
or not far from three to one ! And Teh-ts'in Hsien reports 156
male to 68 female communicants, which is but little better.

It is quite true that women and girls are hampered by dif-
ficulties from which their husbands and sons are free, such as the
care of their children and the sometimes prohibitory distance of
the place of worship, especially in the country ; but the figures
returned from Tong-yang and from the River Hsiens, both of
which show a fair proportion, and the latter a majority, of women,
suggest that the chief reason for the fewness of women converts
is rather the apathy of their husbands and sons. In the River
Hsiens no doubt much is due to the work of Lady Missionaries,
but that is not the case, it is believed, in Tong-yang.

(4). Some features of the C. M. S. report suggest one or
two remarks bearing on the interests of all. Except under the
heads of newly baptized persons and catechumens, our totals
show a falling ofif as compared with last year ; fewer communi-
cants by nineteen, and some $4 smaller contributions. Migration
may account for this in part ; b«t the most serious falling off is,
beyond doubt, to be attributed to the weakness of our pastoral
and teaching force. The two Chuki pastorates return this year
thirty-one communicants fewer than last year. Between them
they comprise more than twenty chapelries, or groups of
Christians, ^to whom two Pastors, with scarcely any assistance,
are expected to carry the Word and the Sacraments. One of
them indeed was, during the whole of last year, without a fully

146 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

qualified Pastor ; and the Sacraments could only be administered
from time to time by presbyters from Hangchow and Shao-hsing.
But even if two efficient pastors had been resident all the year
through, it is obviously more than even a very strong shepherd
can do to feed, teach, and admonish such widely scattered
flocks. We who are ultimately responsible to our Lord, ought
to furnish auxiliaries as the Presbyterian Mission at Swatow
does, to aid and cheer the Pastors in their unequal task.

It is not wonderful that under these circumstances gifts of
money have been less easy to collect, and that the contributions
from those two districts have fallen more than $i6o short of
their last yearns total. The gifts in Hangchow city, on the
other hand, have produced nearly $250 more than last year.
The city parish is single and compact and the parishioners more
in touch with their Pastor. None have a stronger claim on our
practical sympathy than our Chinese brother clergy, especially
those who are set to feed the flocks in the country. In my old
age I appeal earnestly to my younger brethren for a liberal
outgoing of such sympathy. Our Chinese fellow-presbyters are
not all alike. There are "diversities of gifts," and not all are
equally faithful to their Chief Shepherd and Lord. But I do
not hesitate to say that we have amongst them some who in no
sense ' ' need to be ashamed, * ' mighty in the Scriptures and able to
* ' strike a straight furrow ' ' in the Lord' s tillage with the best of us
foreigners. I have compiled these returns now for twenty odd
years ; another must soon succeed me in the task, if it is to be
continued. This year, for the first time, ill-health kept me from
the New Year's Day Meeting, and I had to leave my duties to
my dear Chinese pastor, assisted by my son. Ten years ago,
you, my dear Sir, encouraged me to send the statement to
the Recorder, and you have kindly printed it annually ever
since. It is encouraging certainly on the whole, not only to
compare numerical results at the end of successive periods of
five years, but also to reflect that whereas in 1884 we had, I
think, hardly any, if any, organized Chinese Churches in this
District^ now our most extensive work is done by Chinese
Clergy, with their Vestries, District Councils, Departmental
Council, and — in concert with Ningpo, T'aichow, Shanghai, and
Shao-hsing — their triennial Synod. May they soon become
wholly self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating to
the glory of God. — Yours very faithfully,

G. E. MouLE.

1906.] Educational Department. 147

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the ** Educational Association of China,"

Foreign Schools and the Chinese Government.

THE question of the relation of foreign schools to the
Chinese government is now in the air and has been
much discussed everywhere in missionary circles since
the recent announcement of the government's new policy in
regard to education. In this number we are able to record
an important step taken forward, which, whether it results in
definite results or not, yet will be sure either positively or
negatively to be of great influence on the future of missionary
educational work.

As early as last September inquiries were sent from Soochow
University to the Hon. W. W. Rockhill, the American Minister
at Peking, asking him about the relationship of foreign schools
to the Chinese government. He has investigated the matter,
and in a private letter stated what he thought would be the
best policy for foreign educators to take and ofifered them
every assistance in his power. His plan is for the Educational
Association officially to confer directly with the Board of
Education of the Chinese government and to try to reach in
that way an agreement satisfactory to both sides.

This matter was taken up at the February meeting of the
Executive Committee of the Association, and it was decided
to act in accordance with Mr. RockhilPs suggestion. Our
readers will therefore find in the minutes of the Executive
Committee, published below, a statement of their action. It will
be seen that it was decided to appoint a committee of gentlemen
located in or near Peking who will be able to take the matter
in hand and push it through to immediate action. The com-
mittee selected consisted of the*Rev. Drs. Sheffield, Lowry, and
Hart, and it is hoped that they, as representatives of the
Educational Association, will be able to persuade those in
authority at Peking to frame their regulation in regard to the
civil service examinations and the conferring of degrees, so that
students in the Christian colleges will be on an equal footing
with those in other private schools or the government institu-
tions. Such requirements as inspection, etc., as might be made
by the Chinese government, would undoubtedly be submitted to

148 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

each individual school to act on, so that it would be allowed to
determine how far- it wished to adapt itself to the new scheme.

Independently of the action of Executive Committee the
editor of the department addressed a letter to Mr. Rockhill on
the subject, in hopes that in that way we might be able to offer
here late and authentic news in regard to the educational
situation. Mr. Rockhill very courteously gave a full answer
to the questions put to him, and we have the pleasure of
publishing his reply here. This reply embodies the suggestions
which were made in the letter on which the Executive Com-
mittee took action, so our readers can now see the full status
of the question at present.

It will be necessary, however, in order fully to understand
Mr. Rockhill' s reply to refer to the original questions asked of
him by the editor in a letter dated January 15th, 1906.

These were five in number, as follows : —

1. What is the new system of control of education adopted by
the Chinese government ? Is there a Board of Education, and if
so, how is it constituted ? Will it entirely supersede the provincial
authorities in the regulation of education ?

2. Has any school system been drawn up, arranging for a
series of graded schools ranked according to their standard ?

3. Has any definite plan been made for the conferring of the
Chinese degrees, now that the old examinations have been done
away with ? Will they still be conferred by examination or will
they be conferred on college students on graduation ?

4. What will be the relation of schools outside of the govern-
ment system ? Will their students be allowed to take the degrees ?
If so, on what terms ? Will an examiner be appointed to investigate
the work of such schools and report to the government ?

5. Can foreign schools at the present day get any possible
advantage by application to the government ? If so, how should that
application be made, through the legation of the nationality of that
school, or through the oflSces of a Chinese official ?

MR. ROCEHII.I.'S REPLY.

American Legation, Peking, China,
January 24th, 1906.
Rev. A. S. Mann,

St. John's College, Shanghai, China.

Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of
the 15th inst., and to reply seriatim to the queries contained therein,
as follows : —

I. The new national educational system of China is under the
control of the newly established Board of Education (§ ^) which
was instituted by Imperial Decree on December 6th, 1905, and

1906.] Educational Department. 149

which ranks with other Imperial Boards. The president is H. E.
Jungching, a Mongol and a very capable and progressive man.
The board will have general control, but will not entirely supersede
th-i provincial authorities, as the latter are responsible for the estab-
lishment of the schools, and will assist in the examinations. The
provincial chancellors are constituted provincial superintendents of
education.

2. Immediately after the signature of the final protocol in
September, 1901, the Chinese Government took steps to establish a
general system of public schools on modern lines. I^ater a special
commission (^ jj jg) was appointed to consider the question.
This was composed of the two chancellors of the Imperial Univer-
sity, Chang Po-hsi and Jungching, and the viceroy of the Hu-kuang
provinces, Chang Chih-tung. The latter came to Peking, and after
some months' deliberation a set of regulations was drawn up,
which on January 13th, 1904, received the sanction of the Throne.
The system is modelled on that of Japan, and is very complete,
embracing lower primary, upper primary, intermediate, and high
schools in the provinces, with a college and university at Peking.
Full provision is also made for special schools, such as those of man-
ual training, agriculture, ensjineering, law, medicine, police train-
ing, and normal schools, and each province is expected to maintain
one naval academy and one military school. Provincial colleges
may also be maintained, as is now the case in some places. Provi-
sion is made for the promotion of pupils upon examination from one
grade to another. The system of course, exists as yet upon paper
only, but good progress is being made toward its realization. The
special educational commission is still in existence and takes
precedence indeed of the board, since it is the chief council of state
for the consideration of all questions affecting educational reform.

3. The regulations to which reference has already been made
provided that, beginning with the new year, just at hand, the
fixed number of the various degrees allotted to the several provinces
should be decreased from \^ear to year, and that in three years the
old system should be entirely abolished, after which degrees were
to be obtained only by passing the public school examinations.
It was found, however, that so long as there was hope of obtaining
a degree under the old system, the new had but little chance of
success, and in September last it was decided to abolish the old
system at once. So farj as I am aware, however, no steps have been
taken, beyond the adoption of the regulation, just mentioned, to
arrange for the conferring of jdegrees. There are many details
which have yet to be worked out, and the board has these matters
under discussion. The regulations require the appointment of special
examiners. Examinations are not to be conducted by the school
authorities alone.

4. The regulations encourage the establishment of schools by
private enterprise. These must comply with the regulations, and
be subject to inspection and examination by the government
authorities^ and their students will be upon the same footing as
those in the public schools.

150 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

It would seem that mission schools might claim the benefit
of this provision; if so disposed, but the question has not as yet
been brought to the attention of the Cliinese government.

5. This question in substance has already been submitted to me
by the president and trustees of Soochow University, and I have
also discussed it with the president of the North China College,
T'ung-chou, and with the board of managers of the Peking
University (Methodist).

I am glad to have this opportunity of repeating to you what I
have already said to these gentlemen. The missionary educators
in China should first of all agree among themselves as to the sort of
recognition which they would like to receive from the Chinese
government. It is manifestly impossible to ask one thing for one
school and another for some other. I have suggested that those
concerned should express their willingness to have their schools
inspected by the government authorities, and that, in return, they
should ask that their pupils, who shall have completed the required
course of studies, be allowed to take the examinations for degrees,
on an equal footing with the students of the government schools,
and that they be allowed to compete in the same way for official
posts or other privileges. If your Educational Association can
agree upon something of this sort, there is a possibility that some-
thing may be done. A representative committee should be .sent to
Peking to lay the matter before the national Board of Education.
In case such action is taken, I shall be happy to approach the Board
of Education and ask for such a conference, and I shall count it a
privilege to do what I can to assist in making the conference a
success.

As for printed matter bearing upon this subject I know of
nothing except the Regulations (^ g ^ ^ SSO* 8 vols, in one
t'ao, and the numerous memorials and rescripts in the Peking
Gazette.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

W. W. ROCKHILL.

We owe Mr. Rockhill a debt of gratitude for this compre-
hensive letter going so thoroughly into the matter, as well as
for his offer of assistance to the committee of the Educational
Association. If a satisfactory agreement can be reached it
will be a marked step forward in the attainment of harmonious
relation between the Chinese empire and the foreigners residing
within her borders, and we cannot but hope that the effort will
be successful. In such a case we should have good reason to
congratulate the American INIinister on a useful work done
toward promoting peace and good-feeling between his own
country and this great empire.

1906. J Educational Department. 151

The Friends' Foreign Mission Association's New
Boys' High School at Chungking.

THE F. F. M. A. have been engaged in edncational work
for boys in the city of Chungking for over ten years
under the superintendence of Mr. Leonard Wigham,
B.A. The school has been, however, greatly handicapped by
lack of suitable buildings, but as a result of the visit of the
deputation sent out by the Board two years ago, a fine new
building was formally opened by the present much respected
British Consul, W. M. P. M. Russell, Esq., in June last.

The building faces almost directly south-east and north-west
amid beautiful surroundings. The front door looks to the south-
east across a rich valley to the hills beyond, where most of the
foreign bungalows are situated. Standing at the back door
you look through a picturesque ravine, bounded by pine trees,
down upon the great river Yangtsi* and the city of Chungking
with range after range of mountains stretching away behind it.
The estate is a large one, with plenty of room for football and
cricket fields, tennis courts, vegetable and flower gardens. It
is rich in trees — candlenut and pine and some bamboo. The
Chungking pagoda looks down on the building from the hill
just above. Chungking city is only a half an hour's journey
away, and the main road leading to Kueicheo province is
practically the eastern boundary of the estate.

The building itself is large and commodious, containing in
all nineteen rooms. There are two large school rooms with
five class rooms adjoining and a capacious hall on the ground
floor. On the first floor there are three large dormitories and
nine small bedrooms. A stairway leads from the first floor to
a bell tower, where there is a fine look out. Two or three other
dormitories can be added on the second floor at very little
expense, should occasion require it. It is no exaggeration to
say that the F. F. M. A. is in possession of one of the best
school buildings in the whole of Szchwan province.

Well Wisher.

Meetings of the Executive Committee.

THE Committee met at the McTyiere Home on Thursday, 23rd
November, 1905, at 5 p.m. Present : Dr. Parker (Chair-
man), the Rev. Messrs. Silsby, Hawks Pott, and Mr. M.
P. Walker.

It was decided to ask Prof. B. P. Bowne, of Boston University,
U. S. A., to deliver a lecture before the Association.

152 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

A report was received from Prof. Cooper that a copy of the
Minutes of the Fifth Triennial Meeting had been mailed to every
member of the Association.

Dr. Parker reported that the Committee on Scientific Terminol-
ogy had organized for work, with Rev. W. M. Hayes as Chairman,
and work had been assigned to the various members ; also, that the
Rev. S. Lavington Hart had resigned from the Committee and the
Rev. F. Ohlinger had consented to act in his place.

Prof. CM. Lacey Sites was elected to take the place on the
Executive Committee of the Rev. W. P. Beutley, who had left
Shanghai.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker, Secretary,

The Committee met at the McTyiere Home on Friday, 5tli
January, 1906, at 5 p.m. Present: Dr. Parker (Chairman), the
Rev. Messrs. Silsby, Bevan, Rawlinson, Hawks Pott, Profs. Cooper,
and Walker.

A letter was read from Prof. C. M. Lacey Sites declining the
election to the Committee.

The Secretary reported that arrangements had been completed,
and that Prof. B. P. Bowne had delivered a lecture on ** The Present
Philosophical Outlook with Relation to Religion," on Thursday, 7th
December, 1905, at 8.30 p.m., in the Union Church Lecture Hall.

The Rev. J. W. Cline, of Shanghai, was elected to fill the
vacant place on the Executive Committee.

Mr. Walker presented a wall chart of the dynasties and king-
doms of China, to be used in connection with teaching the History of
China. It was ordered that it should be sent to the Publication
Committee, and that the General Editor should get an estimate on
2,000 copies.

It was decided to put the wholesale rate of Mr. Tsu's "Three
Character Classic " at $3.50 per hundred.

It was decided that the General Secretary should publish a
letter in the Recorder, stating the need of the Association of a
man for Permanent Secretary, and desiring to communicate with
any one desirous of undertaking the work.

It was decided that the General Secretary write a letter to the
home Boards of the various members of the Association to find out
their opinion with regard to a Permanent Secretary and whether
they would be willing to help in his support if a suitable man could
be found.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker, Secretary,

The Committee met at the McTyiere Home on Friday, 9th
February, 1906, at 5 p.m. Present: Dr. Parker (Chairman), Rev.
Messrs. Silsby, Bevan, Cline, Profs. Cooper and Walker.

A letter w^as received from Prof. N. Gist Gee, of Soochow,
resigning from the Directorship of the Book Exhibit. The Rev.
J. Whiteside was elected to fill his place.

1906.] Educational Department. 153

It was decided that in Art. 5 of the Constitution the word
"membership" be interpreted by By-law No. 11 (members ^ailing
to pay their annual fees shall not be entitled to vote until all arrears
are paid). This was done in order to make it possible to get a vote
on the changes in the constitution, as there were many names on
the lists from whom no returns had been received in the recent
ballot sent out.

The following were elected to membership in the Association : —
Mr. R. D. Shipman, of Wuchang; Miss Martha C. W. Nicolaisen,
of Sieng-su, Foochow ; Rev. Edmund Jennings Lee, of Ngan-king ;
Harry B. Taylor, M.D., of Nganking ; and the Rev. Mr. Thomas.

The following were made life members of the Association : —
Mr. R. D. Shipman, of Wuchang; Miss Martha C. W. Nicolaisen
and Miss J. E. Martha Lebens, of Sieng-su, Foochow.

The Treasurer was authorized to pay the bill presented by Dr.
Gilbert Reid for expenses incurred in connection with the Associa-
tion's St. Louis Exposition Exhibit.

The Treasurer was authorized to procure forms and send out
statements to all members of their arrears in annual fees.

A letter was read from U. S. Minister Rockhill with regard to
the attitude of the Chinese government toward Christian educa-
tional institutions, and suggesting that a committee be sent to Peking,
representing the various institutions concerned, to confer with the
Board of Education, and offering to help in any way in his power.

A Committee, consisting of the Rev. Drs. Sheffield and Lowry,
of Peking, and the Rev. Dr. Lavington Hart, of Tientsin, was
elected to confer with the Board of Education and Mr. Rockhill, in
order to find out the Chinese government's position as regards
mission schools and to see if regulations could be obtained,
making it possible for students of Christian institutions to compete
for the government degrees.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker, Secretary,

AN APPEAL FOR A PERMANENT SECRETARY.

St. John's College, Shanghai,
February 24th, 1906.

To the Members of the Educational Association.

Dear Friends : — At the last meeting of the Association there
was a very strong feeling that the*time had arrived for the appoint-
ment of a permanent secretary to the Association, who could act as
general secretary, edit an educational magazine, revise the books
published, give information on educational matters and act as a
general agent of the Association.

Fortunately for the educational interests of China our Associa-
tion has grown enormously during the past few years, and we are
strong enough to influence China aright in this formative period of
her new education, but the work involved is far too much for the
present honorary officers of the Association, and hence the pressing

154 The Chinese Recorder. [March,

need of a well-qualified person to devote all his time to the work of
the Association.

The Committee on an Educational Magazine, in their report,
fully realized the difficulty of getting the proper man and of provid-
ing for his support, and at the last meeting of the Executive Com-
mittee it was decided that I should invite the members of the
Association to send me suggestions on these points.

Will any reader kindly communicate with me if he knows of a
suitable person and send suggestions as to how such a secretary's
stipend should be raised ?

The real difficulty is to find the right man, a man with the
true missionary spirit, keenly interested in educational matters and
with a fair knowledge of the Chinese language. It is confidently
believed that the money difficult}' will vanish away as soon as the
much-desired candidate offers, as, with a good agent, the sale of our
publications will increase and, possibly, when the matter is presented
to them, the Home Boards will be willing to contribute annually
a small grant.

Any information or help on this important matter will be much
appreciated by,

Yours sincerely,

F. Clement Cooper, Gen. Sec.

Correspondence.

A QUERY. Besides the root meaning seems

to be mental perspicuity, and in

To the Editor of usage the intellectual is at least

" The Chinese Recorder." ^-^ prominent as the moral sense.

Confucius defines it as ** tao-

Dear Sir : In preparing a doc- ch'iian-tei-pei " (jg ^ ^ 'f^).

trinal catechism I find difficulty To the writer " pien " (^)

in choosing a word to express seems preferable to ''Ch'eng."

the idea of sanctification. The "Shan" has the root meaning

phrase Ch'eng-sheng (^ ^) of moral good as opposed to evil

and variations thereof are objec- (^), and thus is nearer the

tionable. Ch'eug expresses an meaning, but it also is used

action brought to completion, in the sense of clever and is

Sheng, according to all the confused by its secondary sense

Chinese teachers that I have of works of merit. In corres-

consulted is applicable only to pondence Dr. Giles objects to

that which is divine. Hence *' Ch'eng-sheng " " chie-chin-

while applicable to the Holy chih-shi " (^ ^ ;i ^) and the

Spirit, the Bible, and to inspired like, but knows no exact transla-

men, it is out of place in such an tion. He suggests " hwa " (fj^)

expression, unless it is meant instead of Ch'eng.

to say that the believer becomes A comparison of views may be

divine. Indeed considering also helpful. Let the * iron sharpen

the similarity of sound this the iron.'

phrase will inevitably be con- Sincerely,

fused with Ch'cng-shen (^ jlj). Hugh W. WhiTK.

1906.]

Correspondence.

i55

WINE FOR THE LORD'S SUPPER.

To the Editor of

" The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Re Mr. Gehvick's
article in the October (1905) Re-
corder on " The Materials for
Use in Observing the Lord's
Supper," it may be of interest to
state that in some of the Central
China churches a " raisin wine,"
made from Chinese raisins (p'u-
tao ^ '^) , is used for ' ' the cup. ' '
The raisins, purchasable in most
interior cities, and easily kept,
are, the day before the com-
munion season, boiled with sugar
and water. This is simple and
easily obtained, as well as being
distinctly " the fruit of • the

vine.

Yours sincerely,

Learner.

A correction.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Allow me to call
attention to a serious mistake in
the able article by *' C." in your
last issue.

On the 91st page the second
word in the 19th line from the
bottom should be "Zeus" and
not "theos." The whole tenor
of his article, as well as the facts
of the case as stated in the
context, require the word Zeu%
in that place. By reference to
the copy you will see whether
it is a "printer's error" or a
lapsus calami. Trusting you
will find room for this correction
in your ne,xt issue.

I am, yours sincerely.
Iota.

We have followed the manuscript.
The sentence reads : — " Shangti stands
at the head of the nature cult, which is
first among the systems of worship in
China, and is the equivalent of, and
interchangeable with, T'ieu, Heaven
(;^). It is the name of an idol,
and the image is found in temples
with the inscription over the door,
Shangti Miao ()^), as I have seen.
Every object of worship is an Elo-
him (Hebrew); a Theos (Greek) ; a
God (English); a Shen (Chinese).
Shangti occupies quite the same
position among the Chinese that
Theos [should be Zeus, Jupiter,] did
among the Greeks— the highest
among many gods." — Ed. Recokdkr.

THE TERM QUESTION.
To the Editor of
" The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Will you permit
me to inquire whether such
articles as those published in
recent numbers of the Recorder
are likely to promote the cause
of union which is now being
discussed in such a hopeful spirit ?
If the advocates of one particular
set of terms for God and Holy
Spirit desire to wreck the present
movement towards union terms,
and to irritate those who have
used another set of terms to the
point of controversy and resist-
ance, such articles as have ap-
peared above the signatures of
'' C", "S.", etc., are well calcu-
lated to produce this result.

A fresh discussion of the term
question can only leave us where
we were. The irenicon put forth
by the Peking Conference must
be accepted if any advance is to be
made. If the ' ' other side ' ' does
not make itself heard it is not
because they have nothing to
say, but because they believe
that union and progress will not
be promoted by reviving the un-
pleasant and profitless discus-
sions of the past.

Yours, etc.,

H,

156

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

A PARAPHRASED BIBI.K.

To the Editor of
" The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In your number for
February, under the above head-
ing, I notice that Dr. G. F.
Stooke, amongst other things,
makes the following state-
ments : —

" I have read most of the
different editions of the Bible,
and of them all the Delegates'
version must rank highest ....
But every page, even of the
Delegates' version, is calculated
to offend a native scholar's ear.
He reads, for example, in Acts

14 # + a f@ A.

The characters in brackets are

not wanted Everywhere

we turn we find such errors in
style. Like a boy's essav the
present editions are full of g |f
a"d M %, and for the simple
reason that they are such faithful
translations. Take the strange
way of expressing relationships

f@ Si •?) [Matt. XX. 20]. This
is an example of impedimenta."

I am only concerned to say :

(i). That Dr. Stooke's quo-
tations are taken from Dr. John's
Mandarm version, and not from
the Delegate's version.

(2). That the Chinese scholar
whose criticisms are given such
publicity should have know^n the
difference between Mandarin and
Wen-li.

(3) . That the Delegates' ver-
sion is usually criticised not for
its deficiencies in style, but be-
cause of its paraphrastic render-
ings, i.e., the kind of translation
Dr. Stooke desires.

(4). That Dr. Stooke has
evidently not yet made the

acquaintance of that literary
rendering of the Bible known as
the Delegates' version.

Yours very truly,

G. H. BONDFIELD.

THE LATH REV. J. ROBINSON.
To the Editor of
*' The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : In the January
issue of the Recorder, just to
hand, I note you make kindly
and sympathetic mention of the
losses various missions have
sustained during the past year
in the deatiis of different mem-
bers of their staffs. You make
no mention of the great loss our
Mission has had to face in the
death of our senior missionary,
the Rev. John Robinson, which
took place in April last at Tien-
tsin. For some months I have
looked for some notice of
our departed brother in your
columns, as one of our brethren
was requested, and undertook, to
w^rite a memoir of Mr. Robinson
for the Recorder, and it seems
to me that the fact of his
removal should not be allowed to
go unnoticed in our mission-
ary records. Mr. Robinson had
served our Mission loyally and
well for twenty-eight years, after
a nine years' ministry in England,
and by all who were favoured
wdth his friendship w^as known
as one of the strong and stalwart
evangelists of North China.
His death at the age of sixty-one
was a sore blow to us, who loved
him for his work's sake, no less
than for the strength and charm
of his personal character, and
you will perhaps allow one, who
misses him more than pen can
tell, to place on record our sense
of liis. worth and of the loss we
have sustained in his death.
Yours very truly,

John Hedley.

1906.]

Correspondence.

157

INTKRXATIOXAL BIBLE READ-
ING ASSOCIATION.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : Please allow me to
call the attention of missionaries
and Christians in all parts of
China and the East to the fact
that the daily readings of
the International Bible Reading
Association for 1906 have been
translated and are for sale at the
Presbyterian Mission Press ; two
cents per copy. Mr. Gilbert
Mcintosh and Mr. Kau, of Shang-
hai, very kindl}- translated them,
so that there might be no omis-
sion of a year's issue while there
was no secretary for China.

This is the third year that this
publication has been before the
Christians in China. We hope it
will become more and more used
as the years go by. It has many
advantages. This course is one
of the very be.st methods of con-
secutive Bible study, satisfying
the needs of both beginners and
of more advanced Bible students.
The object of the Association
is to promote the reading of the
Bible in the home, using the
international lesson and the read-
ing portions for each day of the
week. Member'- are helped to
read the Bible more constantly
and with increased benefit.
Teachers and scholars are aided
in the stud}^ of their lesson.
Parents and church members are
kept in touch with the Sunday

school and its teaching. Ministers

•
are better able to select subjects

which are in the thoughts of

their hearers. Former scholars

are retained in association and

absent friends find it a daily

communion with those at home.

In many cases the readings have

resulted in conversion.

The organization began in

1882, and it has increased rapidly

until the present. 850,000 mem-
bership cards have been issued,
so you and the Chinese members
join with a large number in the
same course of study.

Members include all ages and
classes without limit ; the condi-
tion being the intention to read the
portions regularly and the pay-
ment of five cents annual member-
ship subscription if connected
with a branch of ten or more mem-
bers, and of ten cents if not. The
daily readings and other literature
are supplied free to members.

May we have large numbers of
members from China who may
receive a blessing from this
method of study.

The Honorary Secretary, Mr.
C. Waters, 56 Old Bailey, Lon-
don, E. C, has requested me to
be the Honorary Secretary for
China, I shall be very happy to
send further information and lit-
erature to all who wish to join the
Association or to know about it.
Yours very sincerely,
H. G.'C. Haeeock.

L. M. S. district COMMITTEE

(hANKOW) AND THE

* ' UNION ' ' TERMS-

To the Editor of
*' The Chinese Recordrr."
Dear Sir : In reference to cer-
tain proposed "union" terms
for God and the Holy Spirit in
Chinese, recommended by the
Peking Union Committee, the Bi-
ble Societies are now taking steps
to ascertain the wishes of their
constituents on the printingof the
Bible with these \.^xx^^ exclusively.
As there seems to be a desire
on the part of some to know
what is the feeling of our com-
mittee in this matter, the follow-
ing statement has been drawn
up and I am instructed to send
it to you for publication as the
best way of meeting this desire.

158

The Chinese Recorder

[March,

With thanks in anticipation,
believe me,

Yours faithfully,

Arthur Bonsey,

Sec. Hankow District Committee,
L. M. S.

The Hankow District Com-
mittee of the London Missionar}^
Society has voted upon the pro-
posed substitution of Shang-ti and
Sheng-ling in versions of the
Scriptures printed in Mandarin
for all other terms now in use,
and hereby respectfully urges the
Bible Societies to do nothing
at this time to limit the choice
of terms afforded by existing
versions. This Committee is
of opinion that any attempt to
solve the term question by
compelling missionaries, whether
acting as committees, or as in-
dividuals, to use terms which in
their judgment are theologically
or otherwise inaccurate and un-
sound, can only produce irrita-
tion and confusion. We would
remind the Bible Societies that
while a very large number of
missionaries have gradually be-
come convinced that the name
Shang-ti for God is preferable
to any other, and have thus
come round to the standpoint of
such great sinologues of the past
as Dr. Medhurst, Dr. Legge,
Dr. Kdkins, Dr. Chalmers, Dr.
Faber, Mr. Alex. Wylie, and
the Rev. John Stronach, there
are still many w^ho are not yet
convinced. The Roman Cathol-
ics, the American Episcopal
Mission, not to mention others,
still use the term T'ien-chu ;
others use Shang-chu, which
was used by the late Dr. Blodget
and Bishop Burdon in their
translation of the New Testa-
ment ; and others again use
Shen. We have no objection
to urge against the publication
of an edition of the Scriptures

with Shang-ti and Sheng-ling for
the benefit of those who wish
to have these terms, but we
should much regret to see those
who conscientiously disapprove
of either or both of these terms
compelled to surrender their
convictions by the decision of
the Bible Societies to print no
other terms, and that simply in
response to a popular demand
for uniformity.

We would further remind the
Bible Societies that the same
famous Chinese scholars whom
we have already referred to as
defending the name Shang-ti
as the proper name for God,
rejected the term Sheng-ling as
a translation for the words Holy
Spirit. We are by no means
prepared to concede the position
that they were wrong in so
doing. We, ourselves, habitually
use the term Sheng-shen for
the Holy Spirit as they did,
and so does the whole Roman
Catholic church. We cannot
think that if this term is a right
one to use in preaching, it can
be desirable merely for the sake
of uniformity to banish it from
printed editions of the Scriptures.

The final ^decision as to all
religious and theological terms
in Chinese will have to lie with
the Chinese themselves, and we
deprecate premature action on
the part of the Bible Societies
forestalling that decision by ac-
cepting terms that such great
authorities in the Chinese lan-
guage as Dr. Medhurst, Dr.
Legge, Dr. Faber, Mr. Wylie,
and others whom we have named,
have disapproved of.

{Griffith John.
Arnoi^d Foster.
Arthur Bonsey.
C. G. Sparham.

On behalf of the District Com-
mittee, L. M. S., Hankow.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

159

Our Book Table.

The January number of the
Journal of the American Asso-
ciation of China is full of inter-
esting topics.

Extended accounts of the
principal events of recent occur-
rences, such as the American
Boycott, the Lien-chow Massacre
and the Mixed Court trouble,
are fair and unbiassed. The
report of the Hon. Secretary
covers the business transacted
during the year and shows a
gain in membership.

Numerous cablegrams and
communications on important
matters are given in full, and all
go to show that the Association
has taken an active and intelli-
gent interest in all that concerns
American affairs in China.

M.

Annual Report of the Smithsonian
Institution for the year ending June
3olh, 1904. Washington : Govern-
ment Printing Office. 1905.

This large and interesting
volume consists of 108 pages of
the Report itself, and then an
illustrated General Appendix (780
pages) of over fifty articles by
specialists of various nationalities
upon a wide range of scientific
topics, all of them readable and
valuable. There are very fine
three-colour process pictures of
painted skulls, very beautiful
pages of ancient cameos, and the
best illustrated article on Chinese *
architecture that we have seen.
The volume is a library in itself,
and those who possess it will seek
to obtain it year by year.

W. A. C.

We have received Vols. V and
VI (June and December, 1905)
of The Student^ which is pub-

lished monthly by Mills' Institute,
Honolulu, T. H. They contain
much information, especially
about the work of the school since
its foundation. We find that the
object of the Institute at its incep-
tion was " to provide a Christian
school-home for Chinese boys who
came from the other islands for
the educational advantages of the
city." It has always been con-
ducted as a mission school, and
since the day it was established,
thirteen years ago, over four hun-
dred boys have been educated,
and the fame of the school " has
extended even beyond the sea ".

The Institute, called in Chinese
S :R tf ^' '^^'^^^ named for one
of the founders of the American
Board of Foreign Missions, Mr.
Samuel J. Mills, and his niece,
Mrs. Julia Mills Damon, who
for so many j^ears brightened
with her presence the home
where the work began.

There is much more good read-
ing in these magazines prepared
by the Chinese themselves, and an
excellent article entitled *' Follow
the Gleam," written by Mr. Frank
W. Damon, the Principal of the
Institute, whose generous hos-
pitality many China missionaries
have enjoyed en route.

S. I. W.

The East of Asia. Vol. IV. Part
4, Shanij^hai : The North-China
Herald Office.

Some one once remarked of
critics that they are supposed to
be like " Justice with her balance,
but without her bandage, — fair,
but by no means blind." It
would certainl}^ be a great loss
for a critic of the journal before
us to be blind to the many
beauties of the technical get up.

160

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

The East of Asia is, as always,
beautifully printed; and as usual
the illustrations are numerous
and appropriate. We have to
congratulate the editor on the
ability of his contributors and the
freshness of their subjects. The
spell of the Orient is on us,
and naturally we turn to the
two last articles — Mr. Ohlinger's
Studies in Chinese Drearalore,
and Mr. Cornaby's characteristic
article on Chinese Human Nature.
Then from Mr. Yen's Romance
in the Flowery Kingdom we go on
to more material features as dis-
played in Mr. Hutson's account
of Bridges in West China and
Mr. Stanley's visit to Tai-shan
and the tomb of Confucius.
Helena von Poseck tells us how
John Chinaman builds his house
and Mr. Haden relates some
Kiang-3^in traditions ; whilst
Japan gets three articles from
Dr. C. F. Kupfer, C. Pfoundes
and George T. Murray. A most
timel}' contribution is "One
Phase of the New Education in
China," by D. Willard Lyon.
His description of * ' The People's
Opportunity," or a book for the
people of the nation, gives a
graphic insight into the aspira-
tions of young China. The
native home thrusts are faithful
and sharp, and it is well to note
that young China's duty to her
loved country demands disregard
of social and official distuic-
tions, absence of fear,, increase
of energy, and freedom from love
of money. G. M.

Luff's Manual of Chemistry, In-
or(^anic and Organic. <(: -^ ""i^- TjJ},
Translated by Thos. Gillison, M.B.",
CM., and Chao Chi-sun, B.A.
2 vols., paper binding, ^1.50; i vol.,
half leather, 1^2.50. Presbyterian
Mission Press.

I.

The preparation of modernized
text-books by members of the

Educational and Medical Mis-
sionary Associations has latterly
waited upon the completion of
the work of the Committees of
Terminology. Now that the
proposed lists of terms have been
for some time available, the work
of preparing suitable text-books
goes on apace. As the first in a
series of works to be published
by members of the Medical Mis-
sionary Association, stand Halli-
burton's Physiology, already for
some time on the market, and
Gray's Anatomy and Luff's
Chemistry, just being issued
from the press.

This latter work, admirabl}^
translated by Dr. Gillison, is
equally well adapted to medical
and general students. The
original work stands high among
English text-books on this sub-
ject, and it would have been
difficult to have selected one that
is better adapted to the needs of
the Chinese student at this time.
The style is an easy lVe?i-h\
which by its clearness throws
into prominence the new nomen-
clature with its many unusual
characters. Terminology^ how-
ever, is made more clear to the
student by having the English
term in parenthesis in the midst
of the text. Formulae and equa-
tions are also expressed both by
English letters and Chinese
characters.

To one who is acquainted with
Luff's text-book it is sufficient to
say that the translation has been
faithfully and accurately done.
The list of terms proposed by
the two Terminology Committees
has been followed, with a few
exceptions. In the opinion of
the reviewer, it is unfortunate
that this was not done in every
case. In one instance a change
was made which does violence to
to a rule that the committees
regarded as of the utmost import-

1906.]

Our Book Table.

161

ance. The effect will be to give
greater currency to a term that
was almost unanimously regarded
by both committees as objection-
able. The arrangement of the
text as to headings, as well as
the illustrations, add much to
the usehilness of the book. The
typographical work and binding
are the most satisfactory yet pro-
duced in Chinese school text-
books.

G. A. S.

II.

This is a book of 528 pages
with an Appendix of 52 pages,
fully illustrated and beautifully
printed on foreign white paper
by the Presbyterian Mission
Press, Shanghai.

It is the best text book on
Chemistry that has hitherto been
published in Chinese, containing,
as it does, a fairly comprehensive
treatment of both inorganic and
organic chemistry with many
illustrative experiments, and is
well suited for high schools
and colleges. It uses the new
nomenclature prepared by the
Educational Association of
China, which is by far the bent
and most complete system that
has been produced in the Chinese
language. The names of all
the elements and compounds,
together with the numerous
chemical formulae are given
both in Chinese and English, as
they occur throughout the book.
The table of contents and the
comparative tables of weights
and measures are also given both *
in Chinese and English. This
wull be of much advantage to
English-speaking teachers.

This book is, according to the
preface, " a full translation of
Luff's Chemistr}^" but " consider-
able additions and a few emenda-
tions have been made from
Newth's Inorganic Chemistry,

latest edition. For example,
chapters have been added on
Radium and the Radio-active
elements, on Electrolysis and the
Ionic Theory, and brief accounts
of the rarer elements have also
been given. Help has also been
obtained from consulting the
w^orks already extant in Chinese,
whether published in this country
or in Japan."

Dr. Gillison, while using the
system of nomenclature prepared
by the Educational Association,
has felt obliged to depart from
that system in some instances,
notably in the terms for Arsenic,
Manganese and Sodium. This is
to be regretted. It is quite true
that the Educational Associa-
tion's List of Terms is not an
ideal one in all respects, but as
it has been adopted by the Asso-
ciation, it would be better if all
translators would use it for the
sake of uniformity and so prevent
the perpetuation of that con-
fusion that has hitherto prevailed
in translating books into Chinese.
However, the changes made by
Dr. Gillison are not many, and
he has, in every case, indicated
the other terms that have been
adopted by the Association or
used in other works.

In the matter of terms for
Organic Chemistry Dr. Gillison
has done the cause of education
in China a distinctly valuable
service in the preparation of a
considerable number of new
terms which, for the most part,
appear to be quite rational, handy,
and well adapted to the end in
view. The work he has done
on this line, while far from
complete, will form an excellent
basis upon which to w^ork out a
more complete list in the future.
A valuable part of the book
is the Appendix, containing : i,
Comparative Tables of English,
French, and Chinese Weights

162

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

and Measures ; 2, some twenty-
eight Chemical Problems with
their solutions, which will serve
to impress upon the mind of
the student the mathematical
precision of the laws which
govern chemical combinations ;
3, a Scheme for Qualitative
Analj^sis which will greatly assist
the student in doing independent
work and in proving for himself
the truth of what he has learned
in the book or from his teacher.

The book is bound up in two
styles — one in a single volume,
half leather, price $2.50, and the
other in two volumes, bound in
strong Manila paper, price $1.50.
This makes it rather expensive
for mission schools. But no
doubt many will prefer to pay
more for a book that is strong and
durable and that presents a pleas-
ing appearance to the eye. It
would be well, however, if a

cheaper edition could be pub-
lished for the benefit of those
pupils who cannot afford to buy
the more expensive kind.

Dr Gillison has laid the edu-
cationists of China under great
obligation by the preparation and
publication of this text-book. A
teacher in the Anglo-Chinese
College, to whom the book was
given for examination, says it
is the "crown" of all books
on chemistry that have yet been
published in Chinese, and I quite
endorse his statement. The only
criticism he makes on the book is
that it would have been well if
Dr. Gillison had made somewhat
fuller explanation of the new
terms that occur for the first time
in his book. Perhaps Dr. Gilli-
son will make a note of this
suggestion for a future edition.

A. P. Parker.

Books in Preparation.

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 4^
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the
work they are engaged on, so
that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C L. S. List:—

Translated by Miss Laura
White : — Christmas in Different
Countries.

By Rev. J. Sadler : — Winners
in Life's Race.

S. D. Gordon's book on Power.
By Rev. D. MacGillivray.

The book on Prayer is finished.

Booker T. Washington's " Up
from Slavery." By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Conwiercial Press List: —

Laughlin's Political Economy.

Hin man's Eclectic Physical
Geography.

Milne' s Plane and Solid Geome-
try.

Geographical Terms in Chinese,
European Constitutional History
(for Educational Association).

Green' s History of the English
People, translated for the Kiang-
nan Arsenal.

Shansi Imperial University
List : —

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

163

Text-books of Tokio Normal
School. Translated from the
Japanese : Meteorology, Iron-
work, Mineralogy, Zoology,
Physiology, Physiography.

Fundamental Evidences of
Christianity. By Dr. H. C. Du-
Bose.

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the
Life of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters.

Tales from Tolstoy. By Rev.
I. Genahr.

Tolstoy's " Bethink Your-
selves." By Rev. F. Ohlinger.

Nobody Loves Me. By Mrs.
O. F. Walton. Translated by
Mrs. C. W. Mateer.

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Rev. C. H. Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

Couling's Text-book of Zoo-
logy.

Outline Scripture Catechism.
By Mrs. Hugh W. White.

Doctrinal Catechism. By Rev.
Hugh W. White.

Mr. MacGillivray's Classified
and Descriptive Catalogue of
Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out, he purposes bringing
it up to date for the 1907 Centen-
ary Conference, including all dis-
tinctively Christian books by all
Societies. Suggestions for im-
provement and materials grate-
fully received from recent authors
and from Societies. He has also
in mind to publish a China Mis-
sion Year-Book, commencing
with 1906, to be issued at the-
beginning of 1907, this to be the
first of a regularly appearing
series of Year -Books. Sugges-
tions as to what should be
included in these Year-Books are
now solicited. He would also
like to know from missionaries
what they think of the idea.
This has nothing to do with the
Centenary Historical Sketches,
of which he is Editor.

We are glad to note from the
Report of the C. I. M. that Rev.
F. W. Bailer is preparing a
Chinese version of Pastor Hsi,
for which many are now enquir-
ing. Also by same author, Afan-
dariii Hymnbook for Women and
Children, a great want. (Just out).

Editorial Comment.

Quite a flutter was caused

during the past month by the

^. ^ ., ^ issue of a

<=»l I Chinese cir-

SelN&epenOence. ^^j^^^ ^j,;^^

called upon the native Chris-
tians to form a self-dependent
church of Jesus. It was declar-
ed in forcible phraseology
that, as a result, "enduring
prosperity and peace will be

enjoyed by all, the Lord^s
kingdom will speedily come
to China, the masses will
be influenced, our nation by
this opportunity will turn
from weakness to strength, and
when our eyes have been rub-
bed awake, shall behold a
most happy path before the
church, and fortune's road
before the Chinese nation."

164

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

Under the heading *'A
Trumpet Call toSelf-depend-
^ ^ ence," a transla-

mi? tion of the circular
©Dject. appeared in the
North-China Daily News of ist
February. The following two
paragraphs give the name and
leading objects of the proposed
self-dependent church : —

" This church is formed from pU
Chinese members of the Christian
church who feel saddener' by the
disputes and troubles between converts
and people, and who, in pity for the
trouble caused by foreign encroach-
ments, have planned to free and
deliver themselves, and have united
together (without any Westerner put-
ting a foot into the affair) all who
have a love for their country and
church, and who have a desire for an
independent, self-governing spirit.
Hence it is agreed that the name
of the Church shall be " The Chinese
Self-dependent Church of Jesus."

This church, which has chosen to
call itself self-dependent, is to be free
in all things from dependence on
foreign help. In disputes between
church and people, in preaching the
Gospel, and in seeking harmony be-
tween converts and people, it will only
keep to what is just and fair, desiring
to fully enlighten the people and
protect the church's name, having
before its eyes the exalting of the
nation's fair fame. All Chinese
church members are to be without
mutual animosity or parochial nar-
rowness, but on each occasion to be of
one mind and heart to stir up the
spirit of self-dependence and set up a
strong self-supporting foundation."
* * *

Whilst we are saddened by
the apparent lack of Christian
spirit, the mis-
reading of history,
the evident jeal-
ousy of foreigners, an anti-
dynastic spirit, and the magni-
fying of the nation's fame as a
satisfying object, we cannot
but be gladdened by the em-
phasis placed on the obligation
of Chinese Christians to make

How to rcs»
fiarD it.

•QClbo want
it:

the Gospel known to their fellow-
countrymen and the recogni-
tion of the duty of the church
to become self-supporting.
Knowing that some of the
unfortunate sentiments are not
shared by the majority of our
native brethren, and remember-
ing the conditions and mistakes
of the early church, and our
fuller knowledge — and let us
hope possession — of the Spirit
of Christ, our attitude ought to
be one of fullest charity and
willingness to advise and guide.

This evident desire for in-
dependence led us in our last
issue to ask our
readers to indicate,
from their experi-
ence, what is the most satis-
factory ecclesiastical relation
between the mission and
missionary and the native
church. There has not been
sufficient time to hear from
the more distant parts of the
field, but one sagacious ob-
server, of considerable experi-
ence, points out that, so far as
he has observed, the desire for
independence is confined to
one class, and that mainly to
be found in the outports.
We are reminded that Chris-
tianity is wide spread in China,
and that the rank and file are
simple-minded believers, with
great love and reverence for
their pastors.

* * *

This love and reverence
for the pastor, the ingrained
^* ^ t respect the Chinese
Stea6Bln9 ^Je for their teach-
»""^- ers, and the fact
that in China, more than in

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

165

Japan, the converts are largely
drawn from the peasantry,
constitute important steadying
forces which ought not to be
lost sight of at this time. Our
attention has also been drawn
to the fact that whilst in Japan
there is the thirst for some new
thing, with a consequent dan-
ger of rationalism, the real
Chinese at the back of their
hearts love some old thing.
There is therefore a steadying
element in the conservative
teaching of the Chinese church
and the tendency to hold to
truth as it is received. Whilst
some ardent pupils of the new
learning may seek to throw off
the very sign of being learners,
we feel sure that the bulk of
the real enquirers will retain
that reverence for the teacher
which has been the charac-
teristic of their ancestors long
after they left school.

* * *

In all this we see a reason
for renewed care in our work.
^ ^ *i We are laying

3founDatiou0 ^^^^^^ations on

wanted. which ^///.rr^ will
build, and as Paul exhorted
these others as to how they
should build, let us exhort
ourselves as to how we lay the
foundations. Emphasis ought
to be placed on the value of
character, knowledge, and ex%
perience. Special care also
ought to be taken in the teach-
ing of the rank and file of the
church. The need is obvious
for a thorough and well-rounded
education that will fit men to
be leaders when the time for
independence really comes. As
such leaders should be familiar

with the lessons of the past so
as to wisely step forward into
the future, may we not seize
the Chinese reverence for the
past and form it into a new
sense. A fresh sense of re-
sponsibility w^ill come with the
recognition that they are chil-
dren of the church as well as
of China, that they are the
heirs of the ages of the church
as well as of the cycles of
Cathay.

* * *

At this stage we will only
mention two other phases
^ ,^ , that have been

Selt=govetnlnfl brought to our

uapacUB. attention-the
wonderful capacity of the Chi-
nese for self-government and
the practical independence
already enjoyed in several
missionary organizations. One
friend refers to the emigration
from Shantung to Shensi fifteen
years ago, and how, two years
after, a missionary visiting the
emigrants found that churches
had already been started and
were in running order, with
officers, meetings, etc. Natu-
rally mistakes had been made,
but these were not deadly.

Then we learn that in Shan-
tung the native church is as in-

Cractical dependent as it
practical ^^^ ^^ g^ ^^^

fnOepenDcnce. ^^ organization
is concerned the Baptist church
is self-governing, the foreign
missionaries being advisory
members only. Whilst we are
glad to hear that the native
Christians seek guidance and
advice from the missionaries, it
is gratifying to know that their
choice of pastors is such as to

i66

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

inspire great confidence in the
judgment of the laity. As to
the Presbyterians in Shantung
and other provinces, although
the foreign members of Presby-
tery can vote, the votes are so
few that their authority lies
more in their advice than in
their vote.

In these days of earnest

desire for the promotion of

ta«w«^ <>«?. harmony between

^ , native and foreicrn
foreign , ,__ ., ,^ „^^

Co=worfter0.

workers, it is ap-
propriate that we
present to our readers as a
frontispiece the Board of
Trustees of the Chinese Tract
Society. It is good to look on
such a happy and useful com-
bination of native and foreign
workers. Of the native mem-
bers we understand that six are
members of the committee of
the Chinese Christian Union,
to which we have frequently
referred. In our Missionary
News columns will be found
an interesting announcement
of the completion of the Con-
ference Commentary on the
whole Bible. Our Book Table
department had already been
printed when we learned this
important fact.

We trust that the appoint-
ment of the native consultative
committee referred to in our
Diary of Events, will also
promote harmony between im-
portant bodies of workers for
general good. This is a happy
result of the Shanghai riots,
and we do not share the
forebodings with which some
regard the innovation.

We are also glad, in this
connection, to report progress in
©llbettlJelO's tlie good work so

£ttone. strenuously ^r-
ried on by Dr.
Gilbert Reid. The Interna-
tional Institute by its very
successful meeting on February
13th has taken another step
in advance. His Excellency
Lii Hai-huan, who was again
elected President of the Ad-
visory Council, spoke of it
as the fifth step or point of
advance. The meeting con-
sisted of several high Chinese
officials and heads of guilds, as
well as foreign merchants and
persons from the medical, legal
and consular body. Every
English speech was translated
into mandarin, and every Chi-
nese speech into English. In
fact and legally the Institute
is a mutual Association of
Chinese and foreigners. There
was a general feeling that the
Institute under the direction
of Dr. Gilbert Reid, who was
retained as Director-in-chief,
stands for harmony, and in
this way we will not be wrong
in saying that all missionary
work reaps benefit along with
others.

* ♦ *

One of the ablest papers
which has been presented be-

Cbfncsc ^^^^ ^^^ Shanghai
^, ^ , Missionary Associa-

, „ tion for a number

in 5apan. r -1 .

of years was that

which was read by Rev. D*
Willard Lyon at the last meet-
ing on *' Chinese Students in
Tokio." Mr. Lyon had just
returned from a month's stay
in Japan, where he had gone

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

167

in behalf of the General Com-
mittee of the Young Men's
Christian Association of China,
and at the invitation of the
Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion Union of Japan, to investi-
gate the conditions among the
Chinese students.

There are now more than
eight thousand Chinese stu-
dents in Japan, most of whom
have gone within the past two
years. Forty-nine out of every
fifty are in Tokio, and seven-
eighths of them are in the
north-western part of the city.
Almost every part of the Chinese
empire is represented by these
men ; Kansuh is the only prov-
ince which is not represented.
About half of the students are
supported by the provincial
governments and most of the
other half from the gentry.
Some are of middle age, but the
majority are in the prime of
youth. Large numbers have
had good training in Chinese
literature. Those of us who
have been to Japan and know
the differences which exist in
social customs between the two
nations, need scarcely to be told
the severity of the temptations
to which these Chinese students
are being subjected.

* * *

Thk radical political ten-
dencies of which we have seen •

^ ^ , such marked

ar.XBon'0 manifestations
tnvestiaatlons. du^ng the past
few months, Mr. Lyon assures
us, are not universal among the
students. His investigations
lead him to believe that a
substantial majority are con-
servative in their attitude and

amenable to the sobering influ-
ences of reason and experience.
It was gratifying to hear him
say also that the Japanese edu-
cators and others with whom
he talked, while unable through
lack of language to make their
ideas effectively known to the
Chinese, heartily deprecated
the radical ideas which were
dominant with a part of the
student body.

The possible future influence
of these young men upon China
can scarcely be overestimated.
Thousands will become school
teachers in the villages and
cities of China, not a few will
rise to professorships in the
higher schools, and some, if
they keep their poise, may one
day hold positions of high
honor in their native land.
Every sincere friend of China
should be deeply interested in
these young men and should
pray that some influence may
be brought to bear upon them
to enlarge and clarify their
vision and help to transform
what now seems a potential
peril into a dynamic force for
China's good.

♦ * *

In our Diary of Events and
Missionary News departments
^14. ^ will be found partic-
ulars of the serious
^^^^^^' riots at Chang-poo
and Nan-chang. We are thank-
ful that the lives of our
brethren in the former place
were saved, and our hearts
go out in deepest sympathy
to the co-workers and relations
of Mr. and Mrs. Kingham and
their little child, who were
killed in Nan-chang, as well

168

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

as to the others who have
suffered so severely.

These riots come at a time
when prognostications of evil
are freely expressed and much
uneasiness felt. The tension
has been increased by several
missions receiving telegrams
from their headquarters in the
United States, asking after the
safety of the members of the
missions and urging caution.
There is naturally considerable
anxiety here to know what
information is possessed by the
authorities at home that is not
known to the foreigners in
China. Of course the unrest
may have arisen in the doubt-
ful attitude of Viceroy Ts'en

Ch'un-hsuan and the danger
of revolt in South China, or
from the news of the Shanghai
riots and the realisation of
how powerless the officials are
to quell trouble which has been
unwisely allowed to come to a
head. But at any rate in a
land where the government is
not strong and disruptive forces
are at work it behooves us to be
careful. We would emphasize
the closing paragraphs of Mr.
Pitcher's article on " Boxerism
in South China." Above all
we must never forget to keep
close in touch with our Master
who knows all, has all power
in His hands, and who shep-
herds His children so tenderly.

Missionary News.

Blessing in Korea.

Dr. Samuel A. Moffett, in a
letter from Pyeng-yang, dated
February 12, says: —

'* We are having another great
movement in Korea this year, not
only in the north but also in
Seoul and through the south.
Here in Pyengyang we have just
set apart our fourth Presbyterian
Church, and still our buildings
are crowded. There have been
some 1,200 people who have
professed conversion and given
in their names during the Bible
class and evangelistic service
conducted in connection with the
Korean New Year's season. On
a recent Sabbath I suppose there
were 4,000 people who attended
church services in this city.
In Syen-chun, the station to the
north, the annual winter Bible
and training class for men en-
rolled 1,140. You can thus see

that the blessing which began
some ten years or more ago has
not been withdrawn and that the
church in Korea is going on to
still larger conquests for Christ."

Wenchow News.

We are glad to hear that on
January 30th a new hospital was
opened in connection with the
English Methodist Mission. We
congratulate Dr. Plummer and
the members of his mission on
this commodious building and
trust that the deficit of $3,000
will soon be made up. An ex-
cellent work is done by Dr.
Plummer and his assistants,
twelve thousand prescriptions are
filled annually, and in the old
hospital last year there were 740
in-patients, not a few having to
be turned away at times for lack
of room.

1906.]

Missionary News.

169

The Methodist Mission report
an increase of about three hun-
dred communicants during the
year, all of whom had been on
probation before baptism for at
least a year, and in most cases
for a much longer period. The
native contributions amounted
to $2,133.22. There are now
2,144 communicants and 5,378
probationers.

The North- China Daily News,
from whom we glean the above
facts, also mentions that the
China Inland Mission has a
communicants' roll of 827, and
a roll of probationers of well over
2,000, making atotal of over 3, 000
names on the register. According
to this report (which only deals
with the Weuchow northern
division) $1,647.68 was contri-
buted during the year, $1,200
being spent on two new chapels.

Dedication of Memorial
Church, Pao-ting-fu.

The American Board Mission began
work in this city thirty-two years ago.
The present missionaries of the station
had recently the great pleasure of
uniting with the native church in the
dedication of a memorial church built
by the native church with the assist-
ance of the Mission.

The building is of grey brick with
iron roof. The main room and the
conference room, which are only par-
tially separated, will seat about 600.
The cost of the building, including
seats, has been about |6,40O.oo silver,
one-fourth of which came from non-
Chinese sources. October 28 and 29
were given to the dedication exercises,
which were joined in by friends from
Tientsin, Tungcho and Peking. We
plan to make the cemetery of the
martyred missionaries and members
near this building, which has been
built to their memory. A tablet,
containing forty-eight names, has al-
ready been set up in the tower. This
tablet also contains a description of
the events of 1900 which, although
somewhat long, I venture to ofifer in
translation.

The stranger asks, '* Why was this

hall built? " We reply, "It was built
to memorialize the faithful followers
of Jesus who held the good way unto
death, but because of our grief at
those evils we remain silent."

The stranger, touching our knees
with his, asks, "Why may you not
tell the outline of those events?"
Therefore with reverence we make
answer.

"Recollect, sir, the overturning of
the summer of the 26th year of Kwang
Hsii, how superstitious practices and
wild reports filled all China. These
entered the province of Chihli from
Shantung, spread in every direction
for more than a month and filled the
province with hatred against the
church and the purpose of destroying
everything foreign, breaking out into
arson and murder.

"At this time our members and
community were living in their usual
tranquillity. But, in the latter part
of the 5th moon, fighting began in
Tientsin and Taku, and the consulates
were surrounded. There were also
false Imperial proclamations put forth
everywhere through which the well
disposed people fell into incalculable
evils.

" At this time a part of the church
leaders and members remembered the
instructions of Jesus about fleeing and
hiding and another part imitated the
illustrious pattern of the sages and
remained awaiting the decree of hea-
ven, each one following the Scrip-
tures or making the best of his cir-
cumstances according to his own
convenience.

" Upon the 2nd day of the 6th moon,
in the afternoon, began the calamities
of our church members. For several
months it was all dark ; there was no
sun in the heavens even to the middle
of autumn."

The stranger asks, "The followers
of your holy faith in holding to virtue
and following their instruction have
merit equal to that of the officials who
give peace to the people. How then
came such ills upon such people ? "

We reply, " In all generations
scholars of purpose and men of
benevolence experience over and
again ills which they foresee and
might avoid. When all these evils
came together upon their followers,
they were able to preserve each his
faith to the end, thus proving the
power of the Gospel and the sincerity
of their faith. Christ the example
going before, the followers walking
after in His footsteps, verily this brings
the past and present i»to our path.

170

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

"Who would have thought that
■what eye cannot see, nor ear hear and
what hath not entered the thought of
man has been given these in the
heavenly places, longer in time than
the existence of the mountains and
the rivers, brighter than the moon
and sun."

These things being now past and
their traces disappearing, we hope
that the families and the kingdoms
of the whole earth with all under
heaven may reverence and follow
Jesus, meditating on His words and
imitating his deeds, holding love to
each other as his great command.
Then shall we see the rain and dew
equally blessing all parts of our land.
As to Pao-ting-fu the gentry and
traders have contributed with native
and foreign members helping. Con-
tractors and workmen have built this
memorial church, and we have pre-
pared a tablet for an everlasting
memorial and to illustrate the history
of our church.

Jade polished becomes bright,

Gold refined is made pure,

They who for their faith lay down life

Have overflowing glory.

A tablet was contributed by city
friends with the sentiment, One look
all is benevolence '^ lH] p — . Out-
stations sent in red cloth inscriptions.
I was interested to notice upon all as
the name of the church to which they
were sent the term ^ '^.

There is now at this station no
mission church ; this having developed
into a full-winged native church, and
the same kind of growth is to be
expected in the out-station church
communities.

H. P. Perkins.

The Conference Commen-
tary on the Whole Bible.

We are requested to announce that
the Conference Commentary on the
Minor Prophets is printed and in the
hands of the binder. By the time this
reaches our readers it will be on sale
at the Mission Press.

This will be good news to those who
have bought the other volumes and
have been waiting for this to complete
the work.

The Conference Commentary on the
whole Bible has been prepared by a
committee appointed by the General
Conference, comprising some of the
most devoted and learned of the mis-
sionary body—busy hard-worked njeo

who have often snatched time that
they needed for rest to help ac-
complish this long-desired and much
needed work, which has been called
*' The greatest work ever undertaken
by the missionaries of China."

We heartily congratulate the nu-
merous authors on the completion of
their great task and the publishers —
the Chinese Tract Society — on the
addition of such a large and useful
work to its long list of good books.

It is bound in twenty-eight volumes,
and can be had complete for I3.80.

The New Union Medical
College at Peking.

The dedication and opening of the
new Union Medical College took place
on the 13th and 14th of February at
the fine new college building near
the Ketteler monument. Invitations
were issued for the special religious
services to take place on the 13th, and
on the 14th there was the social func-
tion and the reception of native and
foreign officials. On Monday, the
13th, the Rev. S. E. Meech acted as
Chairman and the visitors were mostly
missionaries and native Christians.
Prayer was offered by Dr. Li, of the
London Mission Hospital. The Chair-
man stated the object of the meeting
and mentioned the cost of the build-
ing and equipment to the present time
as over 62,000 taels. While the larger
.part had been received from abroad
yet the Chinese had contributed over
22,000 taels. He referred to Dr. Lock'
hart and the beginnings of the work
in 1861 to 1864. Further remarks
were made by Pastor Jen, of the North
Congregational Church, Peking, and
Pastor Liu, of the Methodist Mission.
Bishop Scott, of the Church of England
Mission, then addressed the gathering,
dwelling on the two prominent ideas
of unity and medical science.

On the 14th of February a much
larger audience was present. The
visitor to the College saw signs of an
extensive preparation to receive the
distinguished guests who were soon
to appear. Newly-uniformed soldiers
were in great abundance as guards for
the occasion. The streets were kept
well cleared and sightseers were not
allowed near the gateway. Soon the
carriages and official carts of the high
dignitaries of the city began to roll in.
There were fully one hundred native
guests ; among them being H. E. Na
T'ung, Governor of the city and Vice-

1906.]

Missionary News.

171

President of the Foreign Office, Chung
Tang, Sun Chia-nai, Wu Ting-fang,
Lien Fang, Hu Chueh-fen, Tang Shao-
yi, formerly Taotai in Tientsin, Prince
Pu Lun, who hopes to study naval
affairs in Europe, Duke TI, Sung
Shou. recently called from Kalgan
to take the position of President
of the Board of War, and many mi-
nor officials. Most of the Presidents
of the ten Boards were present and
few were left out who could represent
official Peking. Among the foreigners
present were Sir Ernest Satow, Sir
Robert Hart, Sir Robert Bredon, the
Hon. W. W. Rockhill, the German,
Italian, Japanese, and Austrian Minis-
ters, with the secretaries of the Lega-
tions. Many ladies were present.
The flowers for the occasion were
presented by the chief eunuch of the
palace, Li Lien-ying. His chair-
bearers who brought the flowers were
presented with several dollars as a
reward, but instead of accepting any
present, they took up a collection of
four dollars among themselves and
gave them as a gift to the hospital.
His Excellency, Na Tung, was called
to the chair by the side of Sir Ernest
Satow, who called the names of the
speakers. Prayer was offered by Bish-
op Scott. A carefully prepared ad-
dress was read by Sir Ernest Satow,
and was afterwards interpreted to the
Chinese by the Rev. S. E. Meech. —
N.-C. Daily News.

Boxerism in South China.

For several months past there have
been rumors about of the recrudescence
of Boxerism in and about Chang-poo,
a district city situated about fifty miles
south-west of Amoy and about thirty
miles south of Chiang-chiu. Reports
have reached us of men being initiat-
ed into the society by the old and
ridiculous methods employed in 1900,
i.e., by swallowing wads of paper
with Chinese words written on them
and by subjecting themselves to va-
rious other absurd ceremonies to
insure invulnerability against bullets
and swords. Such is Chinese credulity.

We are told that they fight with a
short knife and a fan, with some
yellow paper pasted on their heads,
from which they also derive their
mysterious power (?). They wave a
fan in the face of the person they

attack, and if the person should
be Christian the fact is at once
demonstrated by a cross showing
itself on his forehead. Dire conse-
quences are apt to follow. Because
they use a fan these Boxers have very
appropriately been nicknamed the
"Fanners." If the Fanners are ever
wounded they bleed, but cannot die !
The energetic action of the officials,
of which I shall presently speak,
will do much to disabuse a too credu-
lous people of all this nonsense.

The affair was brought at once to
the knowledge of the officials, and as
matters seemed to quiet down, it was
thought that any apprehended danger
from this source was passed.

Inasmuch as the English Presby-
terian Mission have a very extensive
plant and flourishing work at Chang-
poo (started nearly seventeen years
ago) we were all deeply concerned, and
were most happy to believe that all
apprehensions of alarm had subsided.
Their property at this place consists
of a large hospital, native church and
parsonage, boys' school, girls' school,
and three foreign residences. Dr. and
Mrs. Montgomery (a bride and groom
of only about a month), Rev. H. W.
Oldham, Miss Maclagan, and Miss
Lecky reside there and have charge of
the different departments of the work.

On or about Monday, February 5th,
some Catholics at a village near Chang-
poo got into trouble with the other
natives, and in order to settle the
dispute they seized two men who
chanced to be members of the Boxer
society. This aroused the anger,
not only of the Boxers, but of all the
rowdies in the neighborhood, to the
utmost fury. It proved to be the
spark that started what threatened to
be the wildest outburst of fanaticism
ever known in this region. Fortu-
nately it was nipped in the bud. Had
it not been suppressed before it reach-
ed uncontrollable proportions and
momentum, my story undoubtedly
would have been a far more distress-
ing one.

172

The Chinese Recorder.

[March,

The number of Boxers and rowdies
rapidly increased until they were a
mob of three or four hundred strong
which marched gn masse to Chang-
poo breathing vengeance and bent on
doing all the damage possible to the
Catholic Mission in that city. But,
like all mobs, passion recognized no
bounds and so, with wildest indiscri-
mination, they began attacking the
property of the English Presbyterian
Mission. Before they had finished
they had burned down the hospital,
the doctor's house, and looted all the
other places, destroying or carrying
off everything they could lay hands
on, clothing, books, silverware, fur-
niture, etc. , stripping every place clean.
The total loss (not counting personal
property) will reach not less than
150,000.

At the time of the riot only Rev.
Mr. Oldham was at Chang-poo. Some
had left when the danger was at first
apprehended and had not yet returned,
others were off visiting neighboring
stations. Mr. Oldham was thus left
alone in the place. And it was far
better that it was so. He was well
looked after both by the native Chris-
tians and the officials, being brought
safely to the yamen where he received
every courtesy, attention, and protec-
tion. At this writing he is still there.
He will probably reach Amoy this
week, when he will have a story to
tell. No lives of Christians were lost.
For this we are profoundly thankful.

The officials, probably taken un-
awares, as all were, took prompt and
vigorous measures, decapitating
twelve of the leaders on the spot.
This, with some other drastic treat-
ment, had a most salutary effect. If it
were always thus administered we
believe there would be far less distruc-
tion of property and distressing loss
of life in this empire.

Our people in the country were kept
well informed and advised. All is
quiet at Chiang-chiu and Sio-khe.
Acting so promptly and, energetically
in repressing this movement, no

trouble is apprehended in these places
or elsewhere in this region.

What is at the bottom of it all ? In
this case the Catholic affair was simply
the percussion cap that started the
explosion. But evidently there was
something underneath the cap. A
percussion cap is of very little harm
in itself. It is when it is connected
with a train of powder that it does
the damage. What was the train of
powder in this case ? Anyone who
can answer that question will go a
good way toward solving the diffi-
culties of the present time.

Undoubtedly, from the few facts we
have at hand, the time was ripe for a
disturbance of some kind. All that
was needed was something to start it.
The country districts seem to be un-
usually infested just at present with
rowdies and robbers, ready for a row
on the slightest provocation. For
nearly twenty years our Mission has
maintained a messenger service be-
tween this place and Sio-khe, sixty
miles inland south-west from here,
unmolested. The messenger carries
up weekly, provisions, the mails, and
currency. Last week, for the first
time, he was stopped, the baskets
broken open and ^30 stolen, and other
things besides. Fortunately there was
this small sum of money on this trip,
sometimes there is three or four times
that amount. It is but another sign
of the times.

Are these things the product of the
American boycott ? Is it the anti-
dynastic element at work, or is it the
anti-foreign element up in arms once
more ? Or is it simply rowdyism run
wild? Probably it is all these com-
bined.

China is dissatisfied, that is plain.
The whole nation is evidently in a
state of unrest. The people want
something, or want to do something,
but do not know exactly what, or how
to go at it to get it.

And it would appear that she is
endeavoring to run before she has
learned to walk. A dangerous pro-

1906.]

Diary of Events in the Far East.

173

ceeding usually. So, [unless much
wisdom and a strong arm are now
exercised she may have a serious fall.
Let us hope that both these will be
vouchsafed and that she may be borne
safely through these troublous times.

It behooves us all, and especially
those living in the inland towns, to be
cautious, discreet, and watchful. On
the coast all danger is reduced to a
minimum. In the inland places it is
different. There the resources for
protection are limited, and. an attack
quite likely to come in an unexpected
moment. Hence the greater necessity

to be all the more watchful and dis-
creet, and to take no unnecessary risks.
This is not, however, to alarm us,
nor to make us over-anxious. It
should stir us up to still greater
endeavor and effort to give to China
just the one thing she needs to save
her from disruption and ruin, viz.,
the light and the knowledge of the
gospel of Jesus Christ the Savior of
the world. Is there anything else
that can save this nation ?

P. W. Pitcher.
Amoy, February 13th, 1906.

Diary of Events in tlie Far East.

February^ igo6.

3rd. — A large gang of armed robbers
surrounded the residence (at Canton)
of Dr. A. Beattie, of the American
Presbyterian Mission. They bound
Dr. Beattie and his wife hand and
foot, held pistols at tht ir heads, and
removed all their valuables.

8th.— Violent outrage on mission
property at Chang poo, sixty miles
south-west from Amoy. For partic-
ulars, see Mr. Pitcher's article in the
Missionary News Department.

9th.— Consulting Committee of Chi-
nese merchants elected by the various
guilds of Shanghai. It is hoped that
this committee will be able to do good
work in expressing the views of the
Chinese community for the informa-
tion of the Municipal Council of
Shanghai and in preventing mis-
understandings of foreign and native
public opinion on questions of public
interest.

19th. — Arrival of Prince Arthur and
the Garter Mission at Tokio. The
Emperor, the Crown Prince and Prince
Arisugawa received the mission per-
sonally amidst great enthusiasm. The
investiture took place next day.

22nd. — Rev. H. C. Kingham, wife
and one child, and six French priests
killed in a riot in Nan-chang. The
circumstanced leading up to the riot
are so extraordinary that we quote in
full the telegram of 26th February
sent to the N.-C. Daily News from
Nan-chang. We tiust that later and

more favorable light will be thrown
on the distressing circumstances.

On Tuesday, tlie 22nd inst, a Catho-
lic priest. Wang, invited the Nan-
chang hsien magistrate to supper to
discuss the Sin-chang suit. The magis-
trate's attendants were outside. The
priest stabbed the magistrate twice,
but now pretends that the magistrate
stabbed himself The officials feared
to arrest Wang, but on Sunday called
a public meeting to consider what
action should be taken. The Catholics,
fearing trouble, thereupon fired their
own premises. The mob became vio-
lent and the troops fired blank car-
tridges on them, but all control was
lost. Wang and five other French
priests were killed and the Catholic
Mission premises destroyed.

The Plymouth Brethren premises
are near by and the Rev. H. C. King-
ham and his wife (the missionaries in
charge) were killed here Their
eldest girl was wounded (she died later)
and the premises destroyed, but Miss
Warr and the Kingham baby are safe.

The China Inland Mission and the
Methodist Episcopal Mission pro-
perties and people are all safe. The
Governor's launch is escorting the
missionaries to Kiukiang and the
Governor is also providing ample
expenses. The Rev. A. P. Quirm-
bach (Methodist Episcopal Mission)
is remaining in Nan-chang, the hsien's
police officers and men having been
instructed to protect him. This
(Monday) morning all is quiet and
some arrests have been made.

174

The Chinese Recorder.

[March, 1906.

Missionary Journal.

MARRIAGE.

At Chen-tu, November 29th, Miss
Mabel A. Cassiday, m.d., cm., and
William J. Mortimer, b.a., both
of C. M. M., Chen-tu.

BIRTHS.

AT Clare, Suffolk, England, January

2nd, to Rev. aud Mrs. T. Good-
child, C. M. S., a son.
AT Wuchang, January 26th, to Rev.

and Mrs. Engdahl, S. M. S., a

son.
AT Kiang-yin, February 12th, to Dr.

and Mrs. Geo. C. Worth, A. P. M.,

a daughter (Ruth).
At Chinkiang, February 24th, the

wife of Archd. Gracie, C. I. M. , of

a son.
At Shanghai, February 24th, to Mr.

and Mrs. W. W. Lockwood, Y. M.

C. A., a son.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai :—

January 6th, Miss DoylE, C. M. S.

January 9th, Revs. H. G. Crabtree,
H. I. Howden, Misses R. Lonley
Edwards, S. E. Bryers and A. N.
Harris (Mrs. Seward), all for C. M.
S., West China,

January nth. Rev. H. Clements,
for Shao-shing, and Mr. R. A. White-
side, Szechuen, C. M. S.

February 2nd, Rev. C. R. Cars-
CALLEN and wife, Rev. Jas. Neave,
wife and child, C. M. M., Cheiig-tu.

February 5th, Rev. E. C. Nickalls
and wife (ret.), E. B. M., Chou-ping ;
Miss Nelmes, Revs. E. E. Smith, A.
G. Castleton, H. Payne, and T.
Watson, E. B. M.

February 13th, Miss Wilkin.

February 14th, Miss N. Geary,
Christians M., Ningpo ; Miss Spur-
LiNG, (ret.), Missionary Home, Shang-
hai.

February 15th, Mr. and Mrs. T.
Caldwell, Szechuen, Miss S. M.
Morris, Hangchow, Misses E. M.
Gill and M. A. Wray, Mid-China,
all C. M. S. ; Mr. and Mrs. Cornford,
(ret.), Shao-shing, ind.

February 20th, Mrs. James Jack-
son (ret ), A. P. E. C. M., Wuchang;
Dr. and Mrs. Claude Marshall
Lee, a. p. E. C. M., Wusih ; Miss E.
L. Carrell, Missionary Home ; Rev.
Palmer C. DuBose and wife, for S.
P. M., Soochow ; Rev. John INIurray
(ret.), A. P. M., Chi-nan-fu ; Dr. W. A.
P. Martin (ret,); Mr. Geo. W.
Leavitt, for Y. M. C. A., Nanking.

departures.

From Hongkong : —

February 9th, Rev. Murdo C.
Mackenzie, E. P. M., Som-ho-pa,
for England.

From Shanghai : —

February loth. Miss J. P. Rhind,
C. and M. A., for Scotland.

February 19th, Dr. LuCY Harris,
F. M., Tung-chuan-fu, for England;
Miss P. A. Osgood, A. P. E. C. M.,
Wuchang, for U. S. A., via Europe.

February 2ist, Rev. J. P. Bruce
and wife, E. B. M., Ching-chou-fu, for
England.

February 23rd, Miss E. E. Glover,
M. E. M., for U. S. A., via England;
Rev. E. G. Tkwksbury, wife and two
children, A. B. C. F. M., for U. S. A.,
via England.

February 24th, Miss A. B. CoLE,
A. B. M. U., and two children of
Rev. R. Wellwood,, Mrs. Edward
Evans and son. Missionary Home ;
Rev. J. A. Renell, wife and two
children, S. B. M., Kiaochau, for
Sweden ; Rev. A. Kunze, wife and four
children, B. M. S. , Tsintau, for Europe.

February 27th, Mr. and Mrs. J.
Archibald, N. B. S. S., Hankow, for
Scotland.

At Chu-ch'^ng, Shantung, on January i6th, my dearly beloved wife,

Margarets, late Miss Bode, gave birth to a son (Heinrich Carl) ; but

on the following day our Lord Jesus Christ took her to be with Himself

in the heavenly glory.

Rev. Osw. Topper,

Berlin Missionary Society.

5h o

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Sobscrlptfon $3^0 (Gold $J.75) per annum, poetpakJ.
VOL. XXXVII. APRIL, 1906. NO. 4.

Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity.

BY REV. D. FERGUSON, M.A., E. P. MISSION, FORMOSA.

THE subject of admitting to church membership a man
with more than one wife is acknowledged to be a difficult
one. To do so runs contrary to the practice followed
in the Formosan church. On the other hand, to refuse admission
to an otherwise worthy candidate is a most serious step to be
taken by those with whom such refusal rests. Therefore whe-
ther we admit or reject such candidates for church membership,
the action taken is fraught with grave responsibility.

In the first place let us consider carefully the scope of
the question under discussion. The question is not, Should a
Christian be permitted to marry more than one wife ? Hap-
pily the teaching of the church, as well as the spirit of
the teaching of the New Testament on that subject is quite
clear. All are agreed that if a man after he has heard the
Gospel and become a Christian, marries a second wife, his
first being still alive, before such a man can be baptized
the second wife must be put away. Also after a man has been
baptized, if he marries a secomdary wife, that man must be
subjected to church discipline. These two cases are easily
dealt with, being sins against the light of the Gospel. Hence
at present there is no discussion as to the rightness or wrong-
ness of polygamy ; we all condemn it. The question before us
may be stated thus : — Here is a Chinese who believes in Jesus
Christ. His conduct shows him to be a fit subject for baptism.
In his dark days, before he heard anything of the Gospel, he

176 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

married, let "us say., one secondary wife. He desires to fulfil his
Lord's command and by baptism confess Christ before men.
He does not feel it to be his duty, and therefore refuses to put
away either of his wives, both of whom he married in good
faith, though in his heathen ignorance. Is such a man to be
baptized and admitted to the Lord's table, or is he not? To
that question it is extremely difficult for us foreigners, with all
the associations of Western lands, straight away to answer
*'Yes;" and the more we think on it the more difficult it
seems to be to answer "No." But such converts are anxious
to enter the church, and we must give them an answer. If we
say *'No," we follow the practice hitherto observed in this
church, and thus take upon ourselves the grave responsibility
of preventing men whom we believe to be Christians from
obeying the Lord's command to be baptized and to "do this in
remembrance of me." If we say " Yes," we must have reasons
for it ; and the object of this paper is to state very briefly some
of the reasons.

In seeking for guidance one naturally turns to the teaching
of the Scripture and at once we are perhaps a little startled to
find how little the Bible has to say on the subject. If we turn
to the Old Testament it taxes us to find a single passage in
which a plurality of wives is condemned. On the contrary,
apparently among the Jews it was the common practice to have
more than one wife. Abraham had a principal wife and at
least one, probably two, secondary wives (Gen. xvi. 3 ; xxv. i).
Jacob had two principal wives and two secondary ones (Gen.
xxix. 23-30 ; XXX. 4-9). Some of the Judges practised polygamy
(Judges viii. 30 ; xix. 2). David and Solomon had many wives
(2 Sam. v. 13 ; I Kings xi. 1-3). There can be no doubt that
in Old Testament times the practice of polygamy was very
prevalent, though not universal. The later teaching of the
prophets shows that they used a monogamous marriage as a
symbol of the union between Jehovah and Israel (Hosea ii. ;
Isaiah 1. i), and used polygamy as the symbol of idolatry.
Therefore so far as Old Testament teaching goes we can say
that polygamy was sanctioned by God (Deut. xxi. 15).

As already pointed out Jacob had two principal wives and
two concubines. The fact that God confirmed the blessings to
all the children, whether by primary or secondary wives, shows
that God ratified or at least tolerated polygamy. Illegitimate
children were excluded from many privileges (Deut. xxiii. 2),

1906.] Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. 177

but neither the children of Abraham nor of Jacob were
regarded as illegitimate. They were eligible for any office.

It has been asserted that polygamy involves adultery, that
in fact polygamy and adultery are almost synonymous terms.
If we make that statement when speaking of Christians living
in the light of the Gospel, then I agree. But if the statement
is made to refer to all men and countries without exception,
then I at once demur. Abraham, the father of the Jewish
nation and the father of the faithful, was called the friend of
God, yet he practised polygamy, nor did God reprove him for
it ; he lived in close fellowship with the Creator. Was he an
adulterer ? Jacob was a prince who had power with God and
prevailed. He had four wives. If he were an adulterer God
certainly never rebuked him for it. In i Kings xv. 5 we read
that '* David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord
and turned not aside from anything that He commanded him all
the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.**
He had many wives and concubines. Was he an adulterer?
When Nathan the prophet rebuked David for his sin with
Bathsheba, God, through Nathan, said : * ' I gave thee thy master's
wives into thy bosom, etc." (2 Sam. xii. 8). If polygamy
means adultery, then before David sinned with Bathsheba, he
was living in adultery and yet God gave him more wives, thus
causing him to increase in adultery. Throughout the entire
Bible there are perhaps not three men more frequently men-
tioned with approval than Abraham, Jacob and David. All of
them were polygamists, but who will dare say that therefore
they were adulterers ?

Thus we conclude that in the Old Testament God sanction-
ed or tolerated polygamy. And if we say that polygamy and
adultery were practically synonymous terms, that means that
we say Abraham, Jacob, David and other holy men of the Old
Testament lived in adultery, and that God helped them in it.

Of course the reply to all this is in the words of Acts
xvii. 30, **The times of ignoraflce God overlooked, but now He
commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent."
Exactly so. God's ancient people had the law and all the light
of the Old Testament revelation. When they took more wives
than one, God suffered, tolerated, endured and regulated that state
of affairs Without (so far as we can see) in any way signifying
His disapproval. Are we therefore to suppose that God who
looked with such leniency on such men as Abraham, Jacob and

178 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

David, does not look with at least equal leniency on Chinese,
who never had the benefit of the law and the Old Testament
revelation, but who in days of heathen darkness married a plurality
of wives ? If a just God * ' winked ' ' at ignorance among those
who knew so much, who will assert that that same God cannot
** wink '^ at ignorance among those who knew so little ?

But to prove that in the church of the Old Testament God
tolerated and condemned not polygamy and other enormities,
does not by any means prove that He sanctions now these same
enormities. The church now is founded on the doctrines
recorded in the New Testament, and it must be in the New
Testament, if anywhere, that we can hope for guidance.

Perhaps it will be well here to recall the problem we are
trying to solve. It is not. Should polygamy be tolerated in the
Christian church ? The problem is not. Is it lawful for a
Christian to take a second wife, the first being still alive ?
The question is. Should a man who, in heathen darkness
married more than one wife, be required to put away all except
one ere he be baptized ? From this it will be seen that all
passages of Scripture which prohibit a Christian man taking
more than one wife at a time scarcely bear at all on the subject
before us. If I can prove from Scripture that adult baptism is
right, it does not therefore follow that infant baptism is wrong.
And so if I can quote Scripture to show that a Christian man
ought not to marry more than one wife, at a time, such Scripture
cannot be regarded as also proving that a man, who in heathen
darkness married more than one wife, should now be required
to put away all but one ere he be baptized. He has already
married these women, and that at a time when neither he nor
they knew the meaning of Christ's words, ''They twain shall
be one flesh". The question therefore resolves itself into this,
Is he to be required to put away his extra wives or is he not ?

From the Old Testament we were rather startled to find
how much God tolerated polygamy as practised by Old Testa-
ment saints. And if we turn to the New Testament we shall
be even more startled to find how little guidance we get there
towards the solution of our problem, viz., how a converted
polygamist is to dispose pf his overplus of wives.

From the teaching of our Lord and His apostles, I can find

no direct legislation on the subject. It seems to be one of the

matters left by them to right itself, as the leaven of the Gospel

. gradually changed the lump. In Mat xix. 14, 15 and Mark

1906.] Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. 179

X. II, 12 we read, ''The twain shall become one flesh. So
that they are no more twain but one flesh." These passages
are often quoted to represent Jesus as forbidding polygamy.
Except in a very indirect way they have really nothing
to do with polygamy. Christ condemns the loose way in
which the Jews divorced their wives. He tells them it was
for the hardness of their hearts that of old Moses permitted
them to put away their wives, but the "hardness of heart **'
does not refer to polygamy at all ; it refers to divorce. If we
turn to the Epistles the same thing meets us. In i Cor.
vii. 2 we read, " Because of fornication let each man have his
own wife, and let each woman have her own husband."
This passage has also been quoted as a command from Paul
against polygamy. If Paul had been reasoning here against
polygamy he would certainly have used the numeral one, as
in I Tim. iii. 2, i2, where he commands that bishops and
deacons must have one wife only. In i Cor. vii. 2 Paul is
arguing against fornication, not against polygamy, and as a
cure for fornication he exhorts each man and woman to have
a wife or a husband.

Therefore from the Gospels and Epistles we get no direct
command forbidding polygamy. Even if the passages quoted
above referred to polygamy they would be merely commands
to Christians not to marry more than one wife ; they would
not refer at all to men wlio in heathen days had already
married two or more. That is the difficulty. Nor from the
Gospel and Epistles do we get any direct answer to the question,
Shall a converted polygamist be required to put away all his
wives except one in order to become a church member ?

Seeing that from Christ and the Apostles we have no direct
commands on the subject we must try to get answer (satisfactory
or otherwise) from the spirit of the New Testament teaching.
In many respects the conditions that obtained in the apostolic
church were very similar to thc^e of the church in China and
Formosa. If we can discover the practice in the apostolic
church that will go far to decide for us what ought to be the
practice of the church here.

Regarding the early church the first thing that impresses
itself on us is that it was in a transition stage. It had abandoned
the methods of worship of the old Jewish church, but it had not
by any means reached the position of the church in Western lands
to-day. L,et me draw attention to several points indicating this

180 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

state of transition, points on which to-day the church speaks
with no uncertain sound, but which, because of that transition,
the church of the early days did not venture to express an
opinion.

1. Circumcision. It does not require much research to
find out that in the early church sometimes the rite was
observed and sometimes it was not. In order to avoid contention
Vith the Judaizing section of the church Paul circumcised
Timothy (Acts xvi. 3), but he refused to perform the rite on
Titus (Gal. ii. 3). Then writing to the church in Galatia Paul
said : " If ye receive circumcision Christ will profit you nothing ''
(Gal. v. 2). Yet in writing to the Corinthians Paul said : " Was
any man called being circumcised ? Let him not become
uncircumcised " (i Cor. vii. 18). These passages show that
sometimes Paul observed circumcision and sometimes he did not.
And that simply means that the rite of circumcision was being
gradually abolished in the Christian church. In the transition
stage of the church it was tolerated even by a man like Paul
who knew how very little the rite was now worth.

2. In Acts xxi. we read that in order to pacify the Jews,
Paul took four men, and according to temple rites allowed
himself to be shaved and "purified himself with them, declaring
the fulfilment of the days of purification until the offering was
offered for every one of them. ' ' No man knew better than
Paul how obsolete these rites w^re after the death of Christ.
Though he had preached the Gospel of Christ for years, yet he
consented to observe these practices. Had the church not been
in a transition stage he would no more have consented to observe
these, to him at least, meaningless rites than we would now-
adays. He tolerated them and they were gradually abolished.

3. We can scarcely imagine any man being more opposed
to slavery than Paul. Was it not he who wrote that in Christ
*' There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither
bond nor free, there can be no male and female " ? (Gal. iii. 28).
Did he not also write, ' ' There cannot be Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman,
freeman; but Christ is all and in all''? (Col. 3. 11). Yet
this same Paul sends back Onesimus to his master, Philemon,
and never even hints at the necessity or Christian duty of
freeing the runaway, but now converted, slave. Thus we see
that in the church of the apostles there was temporarily
tolerated the enormity of slavery which could hardly exist

1906. J Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. 181

to-day in the Christian church of Western lands. Paul also
permitted it, though he must have hated it with a perfect
hatred. He took no active steps to wipe the stain from the
church. He knew it was a plant which could not bloom under
the shade of the Gospel.

4. If we look at the instructions given by Paul regarding
marriage we see also that the church was in a transition stage.
Paul says that all Christians, men or women, may marry if
they wish to do so, but *'only in the Lord'' (i Cor. vii. 39).
But some had been married before they became Christian.
When a husband or wife became converted, did the rule to
marry *'only in the Lord" render null and void the marriage
contracted before their conversion ? Paul says : Certainly not.
*'If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she is content
to dwell with him, let him not leave her. And the woman
which hath an unbelieving husband, and he is content to
dwell with her, let her not leave her husband" (i Cor. vii.
12 f.). Thus the command to marry *'only in the Lord"
was to be observed by Christian men and women in marriages
contracted after conversion ; but it did not in any way nullify
the marriage contracted before conversion. Though they were
to marry *'only in the Lord," still they would be received
into church membership without putting away the unbelieving
husband or wife.

Then there is another New Testament law of marriage :
that it be between one man and one woman. But before conver-
sion a man may have contracted two or more marriages at one
and the same time. After conversion must he put away all but
one in order that he may obey the command that marriage is
to be between one man and one woman ? If a man, in order
to be baptised, was not required to put away his heathen wife,
and thus obey the first command to marry **only in the Lord,"
so by the same method of reasoning a man, in order to baptism,
would not be required to put away all but one and thus obey
the other command that marriage is to be between one man and
one woman. These marriage laws were given for the guidance
of Christian men and women, but did not and could not nullify
marriages contracted before the contracting parties became
Christian. Thus we see that special rules had to be enacted, for
the church is the special circumstances of a transition stage.

5. When we turn to polygamy we shall find, I believe,
that the apostolic church adopted the same attitude towards that

182 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

subject as It did towards circumcision, observance of Jewish
rites and slavery. These would gradually disappear, as would
also polygamy.

But we must first try to show that polygamy existed in the
early Christian church. Christianity of course involved mono-
gamy, and we believe was from the first opposed to polygamy.
But Scripture nowhere directly condemns polygamy. Church
historians, quoting Josephus, acknowledge that polygamy, to a
certain extent at least, was practised among the Jews. Also
Justin Martyr in the dialogue with Trypho, says to the Jews :
* y It is better for you to follow God than your senseless and blind
teachers, who even to this day allow you to have four and
five wives". Now we must remember that the early Christian
church was established among those Jews and other people
similar to them in the matter of polygamy. Remembering that
polygamy, while not universal, was quite common among the
people where the church was first established, we are forced
to the conclusion that in all probability there were polygamists
recognised as church members in the same way as there were
slave owners and men who still practised the rite of circumcision.

In Paul's epistles there are three passages which seem to
throw some light on the subject. In i Tim. iii. 2 Paul says :
*' The bishop must be the husband of one wife ", and then v. 12
he requires the same qualification for deacons ; and in Titus
i. 6 the same requirement is made of elders or presbyters.
There are various interpretations of these passages. One is that
Paul does not so much refer to polygamy as to divorce. It was
the custom for a man to divorce his wife for any trifling cause.
Jesus taught that except for adultery no man was to practice
divorce. Some think that Paul wishes to emphasise that point
in the teaching of Jesus and therefore forbids any one, who has
divorced his wife and married another, to take oflSce in the
church. That may be the meaning, but if so it certainly does
not lie on the surface.

Granting that this is the correct interpretation of the
passages, then they imply that men who had divorced their
wives, without a justifiable reason and married others, were to
be excluded from the offices of the church. The fact that
Paul forbids such to take office implies that they might be
church members ; for what would be the use of excluding them
from office unless they had been enrolled as members ? But by
our lyord's law forbidding divorce, except for fornication, this

1906.] Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity, 183

class of persons would be as clearly excluded from church
membership as those who had more than one wife. But accord-
ing to this interpretation of the passages they were admitted to
membership ; and if so, then polygamists might also be
adiuitted, because both parties, having broken the law, are on
an equal footing.

Another interpetation is that no widower who has married
a second wife should be allowed to take office in the church.
This meaning is adopted chiefly by Roman Catholics, who have
still further narrowed the sense to be that the clergy were not
to marry at all. Neither does this signification seem to come
naturally from the words of the texts.

A third interpretation is that any one who is to be ordained
bishop, elder or deacon, must have at one time one wife only
and not more ; in other words, he must not be a polygamist.
This interpretation is certainly the most reasonable one. If right,
it means that a Jew or Gentile, with more than one wife, might
be baptised and partake of the Lord's Supper, but such an one,
so long as he was the husband of more than one wife, must not
be admitted to office in the church. This is the interpretation
adopted by (so far as I can find out) most Protestant writers.
Against this interpretation it may be said that what is i^ood
for the pastors should also be good for the people ; and if Paul
forbids pastors to have more than one wife, why does he not
also forbid the people ? The answer, I think, is plain. I have
tried to show that in certain classes of society (of which Abra-
ham, Jacob and David were members) polygamy was not
regarded as synonymous with adultery. God tolerated, and
even regulated it among the Jews (Dent. xxi. 15), and among
Eastern nations it was practised as a matter of indifference.
These Jews and Greeks and Romans, some of whom practised
polygamy, formed the first members of the apostolic church.
Into that church they brought with them their polygamous
customs. Some such men were already church members.
Paul knew well the eternal la\^ of God concerning marriage.
He knew also that polygamy differed from unjust divorce or
murder, in this that it was not so much an offence against
morality as against prudence. Paul decreed that the reforma-
tion which must result on the introduction of Christianity
should be carried out gradually and mildly. He therefore
ordered that to begin with, office bearers in the church should
set the example and have one wife only.

184 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

Let us restate the positions we have now reached in this
paper. They are : —

1. That in the ancient Jewish church polygamy existed.
Fornication, adultery, murder, etc., were condemned in plain
language, but polygamy was tolerated, and even regulated by
God. Therefore God did not regard polygamy as belonging to
the same category as adultery, etc.

2. That Jesus and His apostles did not directly condemn
polygamy. Unjust divorce, fornication, drunkenness, murder,
etc., are forbidden in very strong language, but not one text
can be quoted to show that Jesus and His apostles directly
forbade polygamy.

3. That in the early Christian church polygamy was
tolerated, though plainly disapproved of. The leaven of the
Gospel was left gradually to push out polygamy as well as
slavery, circumcision and other Jewish customs.

From these positions already established there are some
natural deductions for the guidance of the church to-day in
dealing with converted polygamists.

1. That we, too, must not regard polygamy in the same
light as adultery, murder, etc. The commands. Thou shalt not
commit adultery, and Thou shalt not kill, are plain ; but the
command. Thou shalt put away all thy wives, except one, is
not so plain.

2. That as God, because of the hardness of men's hearts,
tolerated polygamy in the Old Testament church ; as Jesus
and His apostles, while disapproving, still to a certain extent
tolerated it temporarily in the New Testament church ; we,
being successors to the apostles, and the conditions of the
church here being very similar to the conditions of the church
of the apostles, ought also to tolerate it temporarily, but only to
the same extent as the early church did.

In stating my opinion that the church in Formosa ought
temporarily, and to a certain extent, admit to church member-
ship men with more than one wife, I am well aware that a good
many difficulties and objections can be raised to the course of
action. I cannot notice all, nor nearly all, of the difficulties,
but let me mention one or two.

I. It is asserted that by admitting polygamists you lower
the church standard of purity. To this I reply that I yield to
none in my desire for the highest standard of purity for the
church. But we are forced to deal with things as they are.

1906.] Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. 185

The apostolic church had to deal with a state of society formed
on a Judaistic or a heathen basis, and so has the church iu.
Formosa. If our historical evidence and exegesis are correct,
then in cases where there was no direct command, the apostolic
church accommodated itself to the state of society in which it
found itself There is no question about tolerating polygamy
temporarily among Christians. The only question is about
tolerating it to a certain extent among men who contracted
these ties before they heard the Gospel. To admit such men
into the fellowship of the church, I maintain, is not in any
way a lowering of the standard, it is in reality a more faithful
following in the spirit of Him who said: ''Neither do I con-
demn thee."

2. Again it is said, Though the church of the apostles did
admit polygamists, is that a sufficient reason why we should do
so now ? If the apostolic church tolerated slavery, is the church
of the twentieth century still to tolerate it ? Has not the church
advanced since that time? Yes, thank God, the church in 1900
years has made progress. If the question was raised in that
part of the church which for hundreds of years, it may be, has
been nurtured on the truths of the New Testament, it would be
raised only to be thrown aside. But the question is called forth
in a state of society which, like the countries where the apostles
established the church, looks with indifference on the custom
of polygamy. Therefore in the absence of a direct command
from Christ or His apostles let us act in the spirit of the New
Testament.

3. Again it has been said that if you allow polygamists
into the church it simply means that you allow men who have
broken the law of marriage to escape the just punishment of
such transgression. Here we must ask. What law have poly-
gamists broken? Certainly not the law of either the Old or
New Testaments, because in their heathen days they had never
heard of these laws. Nor did they break a law written in their
hearts as plainly as is the law of murder or theft. Had these
polygamists committed murder, or theft, or highway robbery, the
law which God has written in the hearts of all men would have
convicted them of sin. But when they married a second or a
third wife no silent monitor condemned them saying, This is
wrong. Nor did they break the law of the land, nor any
unwritten law of the society in which they moved. When
they contracted a plurality of marriages the relationship was not

186 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

regarded as disgraceful or sinful any more than similar relations
were condemned among holy men of old like Abraham, Jacob
and David. Paul says: "Where there is no law, neither is
there transgression" (Rom. iv. 15). In saying all this I do not
for a moment mean to indicate that I regard a polygamist as not
having broken the eternal law of marriage. He has broken
that law, but it was done in ignorance. It was not a deliberate
or conscious transgression, and such sin is comparatively insig-
nificant and venial. On such sin God looks with leniency, and
so ought we.

4. Another objection made is that by allowing a man to
continue his connection with more than one wife you sanction a
life of shame, whereas by forcing a separation between the
husband and his extra wives you save these women from such
a life. By saying this of course you imply that for heathens
to marry secondary wives is a life of shame. Undoubtedly for
Christians such would be a life of shame ; but if for these men,
without the light of either Old or New Testament revelation,
such marriages imply adultery, then much more was the life
lived by holy men like Abraham and David, a life of shame and
sin. Yet they lived that life without a word of rebuke from
God. I have already sufficiently discussed this part of the
subject. But let us ask. What kind of salvation do you give
the divorced wife ? We need hardly consider the joy or the
sorrow with which the chief wife would receive the news of the
putting away of the secondary wives. No doubt in a few cases
it would be a real joy to her. But in the majority of cases she
would not welcome the change, because it was she herself who
connived at the marriage of the secondary wife ; she wanted a
servant, or it may have been for the same reason as Sarah had
when she arranged for Abraham to marry Hagar. The real
difficulty is not the husband and not the primary wife, but the
wife who is to be put away. You deal out a gross injustice
to her. If she was wronged (though done in ignorance) when
her husband married her, you greatly increase that wrong by
now dealing with her as if she were a disreputable woman.
It is an evil to allow her to remain a concubine, but it is a ten-
fold greater evil now to force a separation. And how about her
children ? By forcing her to leave her husband you not only
dub her an adulteress, you also call her children bastards. How
are they to be brought up? Either the father or the mother
will claim them. If the former, then they are deprived of all

1906.J Relation of Converted Polygamists to Christianity. 187

the love and care of the mother ; if the latter, they lose the
guiding care of their father. And all this is done in the name
of a loving, merciful and just Saviour. In the name of Christ,
and for the purity of the church, to treat innocent women and
children in this cruel manner, is a travesty of justice, and,
in my opinion, a gross misrepresentation of the spirit of the
Gospel. By thus "saving" a woman from a life of shame you
commit a ten-fold greater sin. If the suffering which such
a divorce involved fell only on the man, one might agree to
it ; but the man, the greatest sinner, escapes practically scot
free, and all the suffering needlessly falls on the inn«)cent.

You say neither she nor the children would suffer, because
the first husband would see to it that she got another husband.
This overlooks the fact that parents have duties to their children
which, if at all possible, cannot be deputed to others. It also
overlooks the fact that Jesus ordered His disciples not to divorce
their wives except for adultery. But if we force a separation
as above it certainly is divorce for a reason other than that
allowed by Christ. Since the introduction of Christianity to the
Pepawhoan (the aborigines of Formosa) the great blot on these
hill churches has been the loose and easy way in which
Christian men put away their wives and marry others. We
have exercised church discipline, we have preached against it,
w^e have issued pastoral and presbyterial letters against it, but,
alas, this evil custom still prevails. I humbly think if we
had but one instance of a converted polygamist in which the
church insisted on his retaining all the wives whom he married
before conversion, it would do more good by way of teaching
the permanency of marriage than all our sermons and circular
letters.

This paper is already too long or I would like to have
noted other points of interest, e. g.^ the conditions I would
attach to the admission of a polygamist to church membership.
I would say that his secondary wifj^, if she had borne no children,
should be given the choice of leaving her husband, he making
adequate provision for her. If she be willing, then let them
be separated ; if unwilling, let them continue as husband and
wife. If she has borne children, I should say that on no account
should they be separated. I would say that such a man, if
admitted, should never be allowed to take office in the church
so long as he was the husband of more than one wife. I would
not leave it to the local Kirk Session to decide on his admission,

188 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

but let each case be decided on its own merits by the supreme
court of the church.

It is of interest to know that several missions in China
allow or require converted poly gam ists to retain the wives whom
they married in heathen days. I understand that among these
can be numbered : The Synod of China connected with the
Presbyterian Church in America, the Basel Mission, English
Presbyterian Mission in Swatow and the China Inland Mission.
My information about the last mentioned may be w^rong, but in
all probability there are other missions which have adopted this
regulation.

In conclusion, let me recall briefly the argument of this
paper. Polygamy was tolerated and regulated in the Old
Testament. It was most likely also tolerated in the apostolic
church. It was one of the evils which, like slavery, was left to
be gradually eradicated. The conditions of the church in the
East being very similar to those of the apostolic church we should
follow the example of the early church leaders.

The immediate reasons why I have written this paper are :
(i) Because the Presbytery of Tainan, Formosa, asked me to do
so ; (2) Because several rather painful cases have come under
my own notice in Formosa.

Lately I have seen very little in the Chinese Recorder
on this subject. Therefore I venture to send you a translation
of a paper which on nth October I read in Chinese to the
Presbytery of Tainan. I am glad of the opportunity to express
my views on this subject ; and I do so, feeling deeply the respon-
sibility involved. It is not a question which can be settled off
hand. Therefore I hope that this paper may call forth other
papers, either supporting the view advanced here or defending
the practice of refusing baptism to converted polygamists unless
they put away all their wives but one. It would be most help-
ful if we knew how different missions deal with this subject ;
and also if from those missions which admit polygamists we
could get information as to the working of the regulation
in actual practice. This paper lays no claim to originality.
Many of the arguments here restated will be found in numbers
of the Chinese Recorder which were issued fully thirty
years ago.

May the Great Head of the church guide us to a right, a
just and a merciful decision in this matter.

1

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 189

Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew.

VI. Study Your Servants.
My Dear Henry :

'*' I ^HE note of despondency in your last letter rather depressed
me. Cheer up ! You are not travelling an altogether
untrodden road, nor facing a question that can truth-
fully be called novel. The servant question is perennial,
and, like some plants, flourishes in every clime. You tell me
you have had to part with jjjjjt f;fij. I am not altogether surprised.
Your rhapsodies about him in some of your letters seemed more
suitable to the spirits of just men made perfect than to Chinese
servants as I have known them. Of course you may have come
across a gem and found a fulfilment of your expressed conviction
in your farewell speech when you assured your hearers that

" Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The vast unfathomed caves of ocean bear."

But even gems need to be cut and polished before they are
of much value, and if you will not be offended I will venture
to say that perhaps it is just here that you have failed. It
seems unkind to refer to the old proverb about good masters
making good servants, but I mention it in passing as a subject
for meditation. In looking over your old letters I find I have
one in which you refer to jjjjt ffj, and if you will allow me I
will give it in full that you may compare it with your present
revised ideas. Coming events, we are told, cast their shadows
before, but it is equally true that past events leave their shadows
behind. And as it is better to be in the house of mourning
than in the house of feasting, you may in your disappointment
take counsel of that great teacher Experience and learn some
of his useful though bitter lessons. Your letter is dated ^ ^ jj^.
I know the place well and travelled through it many years ago.
If I remember aright it is separated from ^ )j^ by a good many
stages, which may have given ris6>to the saying % ^ /f* j^, but
of this point I am not quite certain. There then is your letter : —

Ching-kuh-hsien,
First of ist month (Chinese reckoning).
My Dear Uncle :

All the visitors have gone and I am alone. When I say alone
I do not wish you to think I am lonely — far from it. Indeed I
am never altogether conscious of being lonely, because I have a
servant now, who generally lets me know he is about. He has a

190 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

flute, so that if I cannot see him, I can usually hear that he is
not far away. Indeed I may tell you that I bought it for him.
I thought the dear lad would be lonely, so I told him to go and buy
a flute. Strangely enough he said if I didn't mind he would
prefer a fiddle. I think he said it was called a 3 ]§|j ■^, but as I
feared it would interfere with my practise on my own and that the
two might not be in complete accord, I was firm on the point.
But I anticipate. The beginning of it all was that I, thinking he
would feel lonely in the evening (though he himself had said
nothing on the subject), told him to come upstairs and sit with me.
And I was specially charmed with the quick way in which the dear
lad took to some of our home ways. Seeing that I did not w'ear
a hat he too took off his and laid it on the table, which I must say
I did not quite like, but thought he would learn better later on.
I suppose he felt the cold when his hat was off, for he at once
curled his queue round his head and sat down on the opposite side
of the table, with his chin resting on his hands, a keen, hungry look
in his deep dark eyes. This I thought spoke volumes and show^ed
his yearning desire to learn. And strangely enough I had that
morning been impressed by the thought that some of our hymns on
the fellowship of the saints would, if the}^ were only translated,
give the Chinese a splendid idea of the freedom we enjoy under
the Gospel. Acting on this inspiration, for I think I may almost
call it so, I had set to work and translated "Blest be the tie that
binds" as being one of the best on the subject. So I thought it
would be a good thing to teach it to him right off and hummed
through the tune "Fellowship" to him. He said it sounded like
the Chinese tune ^ ^ '^, which may be so, as I am unacquainted
wnth the tune in question. The first verse, which I copy out for
vou, is not far from the original. The whole verse runs as follows : —

m -f^ f^<] « « ^, f^t fc ffi A fi{( ^, ® s ^ 64 .& m ^ m,

ff< ]H5 S A ffi 5^- Thinking perhaps that the air would be more
readily caught up if I whistled it, I whistled it line by line and
told him to follow. This he did, and I must say, showed remark-
able aptitude for this class of knowledge. Who knows ? Perhaps
he will one day develop his latent musical faculties and give us
some original anthems. At the same time I have sometimes washed
he had also learnt the art of modulation, for since I taught him
to whistle he has done so most vociferously a good part of the day,
excepting of course when he is practising on his flute. But this
has a good side too, as it shows there is great joy in his heart which,
like new wine (to w^hich the sacred writers often compare it), must
have vent or burst the vessel.

I next showed him my album. You would scarcely believe the
interest he showed in it. I showed him father's portrait, and he took
it in his hand and looked at it with oh ! such an eager gaze. He
asked me father's age, and after I had told him (I hope correctly)
asked me what his business was. I explained to him that he was
a wholesale confectioner, and that for many years I had acted as
his principal commercial traveller. I felt a little awkward as to
w^hat to say in order to tell him what a commercial traveller was,
but I think he got my idea fairly w^ell. He first said something
about © ^ ff*, but I did not quite catch the point, and then said

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 191

^m^^Am^m-&ifW i^^ ± ® ± W- I scarcely know
what he meant by Bfl [ej ^ A ^, as it is not at all like father's
name, but I quite believe that he apprehended my meaning. I
also thought I heard him say half to himself ffi ^ i!R. or something
like that, and thought perhaps he was thinking of the end of the
week and trying to say " Sunday," as I, thinking it would be good
for him to know something of the treasures of the English tongue,
have taught him a little English. And I may say that his gratitude
for this was most affecting, especially when I taught him to say
'Bible' and explained to him, as well as I could, that it was our
sacred book. It is really delightful to see his thirst for knowledge, and
it is doubly gratifying to see what a profound interest he takes in our
home affairs. He was also most anxious to know whether father
had made much money in his business and how much I received
every month or every year. I fear I could not altogether satisfy
him on the first point, as father was always rather reticent about
money matters. He used to say that this general reticence must
have been inherited from a remote ancestor who lived on the border
and who used to cultivate the virtue, both from motives of policy
and principle, owing to the amount of cattle stealing that went on
and of which he was sometimes, though always quite unjustly,
accused. I was able, however, to answer dear Mali's question as
to my own income, thinking that it would help to remove any
barrier between us. He seemed quite satisfied and said only two
words — "H; "J*. This is defined by my dictionary as meaning, '* That
is enough ; an expression of satisfaction," from which I gather that
I can be sure of his sympathetic interest in the future.

I next showed him S.'s photograph and said that I hoped she
would join me out here some day. It was really delightful to see
his interest in his future mistress. The sight of her seemed quite
to affect him. He did not speak for a few minutes, but then said
fili '^ j'§ H •? ^ ^ — can she pass the days ? It seemed a strange
question, but I explained to him that she usually passed the days
as patiently as her circumstances permitted. I told him that she
was kept at home nursing her aged mother who was a hale old
lady of sixty-nine, afHicted with chronic rheumatism and that she
hoped, when her mother had run her race, to join me, so that I
was not without hope that I might see her soon. Of course I
could not fix the date, as future things are hidden from mortal eyes.

Another thing that has greatly drawn me to the dear boy is
his deepening interest in my private affairs. I have a little bag in
which I keep cash and sundry small articles, and this seemed
specially to kindle Mali's interest. He said the Chinese did not
know much about locks, and that foreigners were very clever in all
sorts of mechanical devices. I showed him this bag and let him
see if he could open it, but finding he could not, I let him into the
secret, so that now he can open it as readily as I can. And this
made him keen to know about locks of all sorts, as I discovered
one day when I was driven back sooner than I expected by a shower
of rain and ^ found him examining the lock of my box very care-
fully. He explained to me that he inherited his desire to acquire
information of this kind from his father. I asked him where his
father was and gathered that the ofiicials had thought so much of

192 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

his abilities as to send him a long way off to exercise them for the
benefit of the people in another place. I think it must have been
in connection with the army, as he mentioned the word !^, which
means * army/ and now I think of it there was another word before
it, the word ^. This confirms in a remarkable manner the state-
ments of our college professor who said that heredity was a very
striking and persistent thing, and was usually strongest in the first
generation.

Excuse me for going so fully into detail, but I know you have
an interest in me and in my work. And I feel sure that you will
rejoice with me in the acquisition I have in the .shape of such a
treasure of a servant. Hoping that you are blessed with one of
equal worth, and that he may stay with you for many years.

I remain,

Your Young Nephew.

I have been at some pains to copy this out in extenso^ and
send it to you now that you may read it in the dry light of
facts and experience. And the perusal of it may help to correct
the spirit which showed itself in some of the undisciplined
utterances in some of your letters to me, such as, ''I have lost
all faith in human nature," " I shall find it difficult to believe
in anybody soon," *' I shall never trust the Chinese again,"
and others of the same tenor. Instead of indulging in such
a spirit it would be much more to the point if you recognised
the truth that your own lack of common sense and gumption
are largely responsible for your disappointment. Instead of
declining to believe in anybody again have a little less faith
in your own superior wisdom ; less self-confidence of a wrong
kind wuU do you no harm. Experiences like yours are dis-
tinctly humbling, but if, as the old divines said, they are im-
proved, they help to make us better and wiser men. The plain
fact is, though we are slow to confess it that we must serve
an apprenticeship to everything we undertake, and the manage-
ment of servants is no exception to the rule. Many people
seem to fancy they have no need to serve an apprenticeship in
such simple matters as doctoring a fellow-mortal. Pills, boluses,
tabloids, doses, plasters, decoctions, triturations, are spoken
of and used with the utmost confidence. The results are not
always as satisfactory as might be desired, but that is a detail
so far as the practitioner is concerned. I have heard some of
this order complain that their patients do not always come
back ; and I have sometimes wondered if it has been possible
for them to do so. But you may lay it down as an axiom that
in the common or garden variety of things an apprenticeship

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 193

is essential if success is to be attained. Practice is also very
important. Treatises on the art of swimming usually advise
you to trust the water and devote several pages to an explana-
tion of its buoyant properties. Armed with these theories you
* trust ' the water and find it an unstable element, or find that
you have not taken into account those properties inherent in
your own organism which make you averse to float and prone
to sink like a piece of lead. Many people who come to the
East have had little or nothing to do with the management of
servants at home. It is not every household that can boast
of a ladies' maid and a valet de chambre. Take your own case
for example. That most useful servant you had, called, if I
remember right, 'Liza, was a most excellent little girl. Unkind
neighbours, it is true, used to say she was worked too hard, and
spoke of her as "slavey,*' but this was no doubt begotten of pure
jealousy. Even in her case it was your mother, and not you,
that looked after her, a fact for which, I believe, the rest of the
household felt grateful, so that, you see, you have had to face
quite a new experience in dealing with Mali. And it is not
altogether to be wondered at if your treatment of him has not
been a conspicuous success. It is most likely an illustration
of the Chinese saying, |J| >S ^ ^, excessive joy begets sorrow.
People who indulge in all sorts of hyperbole about their
servants, and who speak of them as 'treasures,' usually, when
the first glow has passed off, and they are spoilt by unwise
treatment, adopt the language of a certain preacher when
speaking of Judas and call them each "an unmitigated rascal."
I always fight shy of ' perfect * servants, as I find the constant
sight of their perfect lives reminds me all too forcibly of my
own imperfections. In the case of some foreigners their ex-
pression of disappointment is not confined to words. They
illustrate the saying, 'Sow an act and reap a habit.' Having
sown the act on the football field where, according to the saying
of some wiseacre men are made, they reap a habit by kicking
any part of the human frame which suggests to them a football.
And many a "boy" can testify that in his case at least they
kicked a goal. I merely refer to this, not that I think you
would be guilty of such an act, but merely to point out the
terminus to which a wrong spirit may lead you.

It is not the easiest thing in the world to know how to
treat a Chinese servant. On the one hand, it does not do to
adopt a stand-off attitude as though they were dirt and merely

194 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

chattels hired to. serve you. On the other hand, a too familiar
attitude is bad for them and bad for you. Familiarity in such
a case nearly always breeds contempt. I have known men to
laugh and joke and play the fool with their servants to-day,
and be offended at them when they took liberties to-morrow.
The one day they were too easy, the next too lax. The saying
S "? ^ i! B'J ^ J^ ^^s ^ good deal to recommend it. If you
do not respect yourself, few others will respect you. In your
own case you are experiencing the truth of Solomon's saying,
*' He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child, shall
have him become his son at the length," which, being in-
terpreted, appears to mean that excessive indulgence is certain
sooner or later to be abused. You want to be gentle, but firm.
I shall not forget to pray for you as Paul prayed for his con-
verts, that your love may abound in all sense. Let your
kindness be tempered by good sense and seek to em-n their
respect. Indiscriminate joking is fatal. If you joke with
your servants, they will laugh with you before your face and
at you behind your back. I speak of this to you the more
freely, as I know you have what your college chums used to
call "a funny streak" in your nature. It is true that many
of them could never see the point of your jokes, but it is not
every one who is blessed with insight. You generally saw them
yourself, however, and that was the main thing. And your
mother, when speaking of you as her first born, used to say she
had never seen such a roguish baby before. So that while it
is true that you are rather handicapped by a natural tendency
to try and be ** funny," I would earnestly advise you to resist
the tendency and in place of it to cultivate a more sober ' streak. '
Take a lesson from the poet who

" Struck the chord of self, which laughing
Passed in music out of sight."

I have some misgivings that at times you harbour the
fallacy in your mind that the mere fact of being a foreigner
and a missionary has great weight with the Chinese. Let me
implore you to disabuse yourself of such a notion. The reverse
is probably the case. The intercourse of Chinese with foreigners
has not been of such a character as to make the Chinese fall
down and worship the ground they tread on. As a matter of
fact if all foreigners were turned out of the country to-morrow
there would be such a jubilation, such a letting-off of crackers
as could almost be heard as far away as Japan. You want to

1906.J Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 195

show your servant and others that though a foreigner you are
not ignorant of sense, politeness, and a sweet reasonableness.
And in your own case you specially need to show that as a
messenger of the churches and an ambassador of Christ, you stand
as a type and illustration of what grace can do in forming
character and moulding conduct. "What doest thou?" is a
fair question for the Chinese to ask, seeing you come to them
with such tremendous claims as the Word of God makes for its
teachings. And if they can say with truth "What do ye more
than others? do not even the publicans the same?" you may
as well take a ticket home by the first steamer, so far as your
usefulness is concerned. I noticed that when you were at home
you seemed to have a notion that your clerical outfit magnified
your office, and I used to think, though I never measured it, that
you wore rather a higher collar than most young men, but in
this I may be mistaken. I can quite understand the feeling when
you first put it on, and the exultation that diffused itself through
your whole frame when the first suit of properly cut black
cloth was found to fit. But by now I trust you have grown
out of all that and have learned that the only way to magnify
your office is to show true greatness in moral and spiritual
spheres.

The question of how you treat your servant has a very
important bearing on this subject. What you do and what
you say, how you treat people, your mental and physical make
up, are all faithfully and circumstantially detailed by your
servant to his relatives and friends, and also to the neighbours
and all enquiring passers-by. You are weighed, measured and
labelled by your attendant soon after your arrival ; and he has,
you may be quite sure, arrived at a fairly accurate estimate of
your social status, acquirements and capacity. To use an
expressive phrase, he has "sorted you up." And his estimate
of you will be taken as gospel by his hearers, while their
estimate of the Jg ^ you preach, will be based on what they
think of you and your conduct. We had a serving woman
many years ago, who after being with us nearly tw^o years
commended us highly to some enquiring friends, owing to the
fact that for the whole of that period we had not had any
quarrel and I had not beaten my wife once. This appealed
specially to her, since she had an opium smoking husband who
lived on her earnings and who knocked her about by way of
keeping his hand in, as often as he had an opportunity. Now

196 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

had we been in the habit of bickering — which in some cases
I have known seemed to be a natural mode of expressing endear-
ment, she would not have been very deeply impressed with such
an evidence of the superiority of the Gospel. And if you present
the worst side of your character (excuse me for suggesting that
you have such a side) to your servant, and always rub him
up the wrong way in consequence, you can scarcely expect
him either to serve you well, or to get any good from his
connection with you. And this latter aspect of the case is
rather important. Our Lord trained His disciples by having
them with Him. Are our servants and others with whom we
constantly have to do, trained for holy rsefulness in the same
way by their constant intercourse with us ? Some years ago
two young men engaged a coolie to go with them on a long
journey. He was a Hupeh man, and was a ^ gc j^. What he
didn't know of life on its seamy side, and of travellers and their
ways, was scarcely worth knowing. He was, moreover, as his
fellow-provincials delight to say of themselves ^, which being
translated, may be taken to stand for craftiness in all its rami-
fications. He travelled with these young men, saw their lives,
noticed how they carried themselves among noisy crowds, and
in private, and so learned from them that in the end, after
some years, he became a Christian and was elected by the
willing suffrages of his countrymen to a position in the church.
Thus what was at first but a purely commercial relationship,
ripened into a spiritual one with the happiest results. This
is as it should be ; let us learn to go and do likewise.

You will find it a good thing to treat your servant with
consideration. By this I mean, do not make him a drudge,
whose one object in life is to toil and moil for so much a
month. You will no doubt let him know what his work is
and see that he does it, but when he has done it do not be
consumed with a burning desire to find him by hook or by
crook something else to do. Such a course defeats its own
object. A man so treated, loses heart, becomes the subject of
chronic weariness and goes about his duties in a listless and
half-hearted way. When he has done his work let him alone.
He needs time to rest and recruit, and also to do little odds and
ends of things for himself. If he can read, encourage him to
do so. It is not many who can, for as you will have noticed
it is not the sons of gentry who hire themselves out to foreign-
ers. This perhaps is as well as to have a man who is above

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 197

his work is undesirable. If then your man can read, lend him
or give him something which in your judgment is suitable.
You scarcely need to teach him English ; his own language
is very good. Your remark about wishing Mali to know some-
thing of the ** treasures of literature in the English tongue''
amused me. You will find that the ''treasures" your servant
yearns after are not those contained in literature but in banks
and cash shops. And he wants you to teach him English that
he may know how to say "Good-bye" to you some day in
that tongue, with a smile that is childlike and bland. If he
wishes to learn it, let him do so by going to some school
where it is taught and paying for it. It may or may not be
a good thing for him to know it, but to enable him to make
a "pile "at an early date is scarcely the alpha and omega of
missionary effort. It is a pathetic and moving sight to see an
M.A. teaching his house boy A. B. C.

You may have heard of the District Visitor, who in the
course of her visiting, happened upon a house where the husband
could not read. She became interested in him and asked him
if he would be willing to learn to read. He said 'yes,' if she
would be so good as to teach him. She did so, taking the
Bible as a text-book, and persevered till he could spell out a
short chapter. Soon after she left the district, but on revisiting
it at a later date called to see her old pupil. He was not at
home, but his wife was, and after some conversation on general
topics the visitor asked, "Does your husband still read his
Bible?" "Lor' bless your 'eart. Mum, no," said the woman,
" he's been out of the Bible and into the newspaper long ago.'*
Just so ; and your love's labour would be lost in much the same
way.

Do your best to keep a servant as long as you can. Make
him feel that he would rather serve you than any one else.
An old retainer is worth a good many new helpers. A farmer
was always getting into trouble owing to his sheep jumping
the fence and feeding in his neighbours' meadows. He was
rather surprised since a neighbouring farmer, whose fields were
not far away, had no such trouble with his flock. He asked
him how it was that his sheep did not jump the fence. "Very
simple," said the farmer, "I always tie mine." " Tie them,'*
said the man, ' ' I have never seen them tied ; what do you tie
them with ? " " I tie them by their teeth, ' ' replied the other.
" You see your land has little or no grass on it, so your sheep go

198 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

where they can get some ; whereas my fields have plenty, and my
sheep consequently have no temptation to roam elsewhere. ' ' You
too must learn to attach your servant to you. And while on the
subject of feeding may I suggest that you do not disturb him at
his meals ? Nothing will put him out more than this. If he is
called ojBT to do something just when he is beginning his rice,
he comes back to find it cold, or nearly so ; or if he is one
of several servants, he returns to find not only cold rice, but
that the others have finished most of the ts'^ai ^ that goes
with it. Would you feel angelic if you were so treated ? Wise
collectors never apply for money toward any object just before
meal time, but rather wait till afterward, when most people
are in a happy and comfortable frame of mind. For the seat
of the affections is apt to vary according to the time of day,
and is very commonly not far from the gastric region. And it
is worthy of note that the Chinese expression for to seek a
better situation is g^ ff , to jump the trough.

Study your servant as he studies you. See where he is
weak and try to help him there. Adapt his work to his
capacity. Do not expect impossibilities. It is a subduing
thought that owing to the Fall we are all of us, though made
of different kinds of clay, more or less cracked. It is probably
safe to say that no man is absolutely sane on all points. And
our cracks are not all in the same place, nor of the same
extent. I may say in passing that this fact of there being
a fissure in our nature is of value as a bye-path of Christian
evidence, though it is scarcely wise to press it in personal
argument. Seek then to discover the rift in the lute, and if
you can stop it, a better tune should be the result.

The line of things indicated by the famous command, *'Go
and see what Tom is doing and tell him he mustn't", is to be
avoided. If your servant thinks of you as nothing more than
a 'don't ' in breeches he will have little or no respect for you.
Instead of always saying, don't do this, that or the other, vary
the monotony by saying: "This is the better way, I think,
to do so and so." If you are absolutely convinced of your
superior wisdom, show it with all meekness, and it will bear
apples of gold in fillets of silver. • The Law says *'Thou shalt
not," the Gospel puts things from the other side. And the
harshness and abruptness of a command is largely removed by
some prefix as pJ" ^, accompanied by convincing manner. To
** fly off the handle " is not only undignified, but the axe head is

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to his Nephew. 199

apt, if sharp, to inflict an ugly wound, which though healed
by time, usually leaves a scar. *' Forbearing threatening" is
a scriptural command, and it should l^e binding. *'If you
don't ... I will . . ."is usually the hectoring of a weak nature,
and may be seen any day illustrated by weak parents, both
Chinese and foreign.

It is carrying coals to Newcastle to insert here a caution
not to get into the habit of nagging. In dealing with children
nothing is more unwise, nothing makes them more perverse,
and the same thing holds good in the case of servants. Give
your orders and see that they are carried out, but for any sake
leave the man alone while he is doing so. You will find it
wise to repeat your instructions, not of course that he
wouldn't understand you perfectly, but for the sake of emphasis
and clearness. If you cultivate the nagging spirit and the
nagging manner you will before long fall into the deadly sin
of taking away your servant's * face ' before others. This will
ensure his ill will and bitterest contempt. "Go and tell him
his fault alone," is quite applicable to such a case, and the
effect that you have gained your brother, will bear witness
to its wisdom. The amenities of social life are not usually
improved, for example, when the lady of the house retails
her husband's faults to him at the table in the presence of
company. Regard for the feelings of the lady keeps me from
sketching the scene after the company has gone, but it will
not be betraying any confidence to say that the bands of love
and mutual respect have not been tightened to any great
extent. And the same holds true with servants. 'Respect their
feelings and you will both win their respect and conserve your
own self-respect. Excuse me referring to anything so self-
evident, but I thought it might perhaps have escaped your
notice.

It is a great thing to have a devoted servant. How can
you secure this ? By imitating the example of the centurion,
mentioned in the Gospels, who fiad a servant that was "dear
unto him ". Love your servant and seek his highest good.
You will find that family worship, wisely conducted, will
conduce to a helpful relationship between you and him. He
will feel that he is not just a hireling, hired for so much a
month, not jUst a ' hand ' taken on for a time. We read of
the ' souls ' Abrani got in Haran, and this old Hebrew idiom
may hold some teaching for us. Personally I never want to

200 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

find more devoted servants than the Chinese. Many that I
have known have been heroes in their service, and will, as
the servants to whom Paul wrote, receive ' ' the reward of the
inheritance." Pray for them as you pray for yourself. You
will find that the greater includes the less, and that if you seek
for them the kingdom of God all things else will be added
to them and to you. You will not then need to have that
perfect bugbear — a constant change of servants. It is not
easy work to lick raw men into shape. And when you have
had all your trouble, you may find that the material scarcely
pays for the labour. In any case there is an element of un-
certainty in each new one you get. You know both the faults
and the virtues of an old servant ; the latter may need looking
for in a new one.

You will find it an interesting and profitable study to look
up the servants mentioned in Scripture ; much may be learned
from them. Always bear in mind that you are a servant your-
self, and let the way in which your Master treats you be the
way you treat your servant. I would say to you again. Cheer
up. You will do better next time let us hope, and know better
what to do,

" And from the wreck, far scattered o'er the rocks,
Build us a little barque of hope once more."

Your Affectionate Uncle.

Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall.

A Practical Course for the Construction of
Electrical Apparatus.

BY DR. WILLIAM WILSON, CHINA INLAND MISSION.

ABOUT a year ago I wrote some account of an efifort I had
made to come into more intimate contact with the
educated class through the medium of scientific lectures
on chemistry, electricity, pneumatics, hydraulics, heat, steam,
etc. ; since then the work has developed in a somewhat novel
direction, and thinking that a brief account of this new phase of
the work may be interesting to some, I am sending such an
account for publication.

1906.J Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall. 201

Last July we had a month's course of daily lectures,
covering very much the same ground as previously. Again we
were much impressed with the unfailing regularity in attend-
ing the lectures, the eager attention paid, intelligent interest
manifested and mental grasp of the subject evinced by the
students.

But here comes a practical difficulty. The students are many
of them teachers in private or government schools and others
are looking forward to the same career, and the more interest
they feel in the subject and the more they see its practical
value, so much the more do they become conscious of the fact
so obvious to us that for imparting such knowledge to others,
apparatus and the facility for experimental demonstration are
absolutely essential.

A few even went so far as to form a Hsli Ting Chemical
Association and brought me a long list of chemicals and appara-
tus with the request that I would order them from home,
paying down, without any hesitation, the full price in silver.
This I gladly agreed to do.

But with reference to electricity they specially felt that
apparatus constituted an indispensible element, but here,
unfortunately, one had to show them that the cost of such
apparatus at home is so high as to be for the majority of
Chinese students prohibitive, to say nothing of the extra cost
of ocean and inland freight, and finally the inevitable risk of
loss through wreck or the damage done to delicate apparatus
during five successive transhipments and overland carriage
ere goods ordered in England could reach us here in the
interior.

Much sympathizing with their desires and pondering the
matter over for some time, I felt I must come to their assistance,
and promised that if they would vigorously take it up I would
do my best to help them.

The whole class enthusiastically agreed to join a prac-
tical course, so we extemporized a workshop, divided the
twenty -six students up into batches of manageable size,
arranged a set of twenty pieces of apparatus which we could
help them to make, drew up a schedule specifying what
pieces each student wished to possess, making a grand total
of over 400.

My next step was to arrange for the class to meet in a
month's time, and in the meantime I engaged three joiners, a

202 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

•blacksmith and a tinsmith to do all the preliminary work,
making all the parts which naturally devolved upon such
workmen. Copper wire we ordered from Chungking and
devised a kind of spinning machine for covering the copper
wire with cotton, and when all was ready the students assem-
bled and we commenced our practical course of instrument
making.

They have worked very well ; the desire for scientific
knowledge and apparatus overcoming many of their Confucian
prejudices, and any day, during the last two months, you might
have seen the workshop well filled with eager students ; — some
at the vice filing iron or steel, others burnishing copper or brass,
some sawing up carbon preparatory to making microphones ;
the hospital courtyard meanwhile enlivened by the whirr of
three machines where other students were busy covering their
copper wire.

Another group might be seen gathered round a table, where
either myself or my medical assistant would be helping each in
turn with the final fitting together of the various parts of their
pieces of apparatus.

Just outside the workshop the tinsmith is the centre of a
group of students eagerly watching him as he converts old
clock springs into very delicately poised compass needles (over
150 of these being required for this one batch of students).

These the students take into the workshop and there learn
how by a few strokes across the poles of an electro-magnet they
can be magnetised and become magnetic needles.

Here is a student busy making a galvanometer, while the
ringing sounds of an electric bell in the next room tell you
that another has just finished his bell and in the battery room is
testing its efficiency, while yet another may be seen with his
just completed electro-magnet well pleased when he finds it
easily holds up the required four-pound weight. Every piece
of apparatus, when completed, was tested, then the owner's name
written on it ; it was stored in the gallery of the Science Hall till
the whole number should be completed and all accounts duly
settled.

This point was reached ten days ago ; the apparatus number-
ing 434. Next day each student brought a servant or hired
a coolie, and twenty-six coolie loads of electrical apparatus left
our science room as the visible outcome of this somewhat novel
experiment.

INSTRTMENT >rAKIXQ AT HSU TING FU

1906.] Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall. 203

Most of the students have thus acquired nearly twenty pieces
of apparatus at a total cost to each student of about twelve
shillings.

I have added, as an appendix to this letter, a full list of the
apparatus made and also the cost price of each, believing that
such particulars will be of interest to not a few, and as this
paper may fall into the hands of some in this country, as well
as those at home, I have specified the cost in the currency of the
two countries.

Our intercourse with the students has been of course
much closer and more intimate than was possible when only
lecturing to them. Many of them we have come to know very
intimately. Chirstian books have been put into their hands,
and thus directly and indirectly they have been brought into
contact with many influences, all favourable to the opening
of their minds to the truths of the Gospel, against which the
peculiar prejudices of their class, as a rule, erect such a formid-
able barrier.

We have now made arrangements for a similar course of
lecture and practical workshop instruction, to commence on the
first of the second month of the Chinese New Year, and have
this time advertised the course in seven or eight neighbouring
cities.

During the course just closed I have given a good deal
of time to this work, but with the object now fully attained
of so organizing it that a subsequent course can be carried
on without necessitating my giving to it more than a small
fraction of my time, while at the same time on principle
I should devote to these students as much of my spare time
as possible.

Every little detail required in the construction of* each one
of the twenty pieces of apparatus is made to pattern, and
fifty to sixty or one hundred at a time — all these separate
parts are methodically stored rewiy for use, so that, let us
suppose for instance, a student is to make an electric bell
— half a minute suffices to give out all the materials needed,
and when he comes to the point of fitting together the finished
article my dispensary boy can give all the help that is
needed in putting together this or any other of the twenty
instruments.

We are preparing for fifty students this time, and five joiners,
a blacksmith and a tinsmith are rapidly completing all that

204 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

devolves upon tliem, and ere this is in the hands of the reader
all the materials for one thousand pieces of apparatus should
be ready, and if all be well February 23rd should see the
students all assembled and work commenced. A month later all
should be completed and fifty students should have scattered,
carrying with them an elementary knowledge of chemistry and
electricity, a good stock of working apparatus, the remembrance
of a month's happy intercourse with the foreigner, with the pos-
session of several Christian books, some acquaintance with the
truths which otherwise they might never have attained, and last
but not least the inevitable removal of many of the prejudices
inherent in the minds of their class, alike against the foreigner
and his message.

Those who have followed the rapid changes coming over
China of late will be aware that during the last few months an
edict has been issued revolutionizing their time-honoured system
of education and examinations. Contact with other nations,
more especially Japan, has convinced them of the inadequate
nature of their educational system and opened their eyes
to the imperative need for reformation if they are to hold
their own in future in the comity of nations. Schools and
colleges are ordered to be started all over the land, and
education, largely on Western lines, is to be established.

It is obvious that at present, and for some time to come, their
great need must be teachers, hence the special opportunties in
the hands of missionaries engaged in any form of educational
work, as many of those whom they are now training, will soon
be in positions of responsibility as teachers.

Would that Christian educationists would come out from
home in adequate numbers, but unless Christians bestir them-
selves it is more probable that the new education of China
will be largely in the hands of the Japanese and hence in the
main non-Christian if not actively and aggressively materialistic
or agnostic.

While such momentous changes are taking place in China
regarding their ideas of education and reform there is every
reason for confidence that our Science Hall and the work
that clusters round it will increasingly fulfil its object in
bringing us into a profitable intercourse with the rising genera-
tion of this important class of the community among whom
we live.

1906.]

Hsu Ting Fu Science Hall.

205

APPENDIX.

I.IST OF APPARATUS MADE BY STUDENTS WITH COST PRICE OF EACH.

I

2

3
4
5
6

7
8

9

lO

II

12

13
14
15
i6

17

i8

19

20

Electro-magnet on stand

Wheatstone's needle telegraph

Morse's telegraph instrument

Galvanometer

Electric bell

Commutator for reversing current

Copper helix to demonstrate electro-magnetism

Oersted's apparatus

Oersted's apparatus, copper rectangle and three needles

Bell's telephone

Carbon pencil microphone ...
Swing board microphone ...
Resonator microphone

Apparatus for electrolysis of water

A.D. — Frictional electricity

A.D — Electric conductors and non-conductors
A.D. — Any two metals produce electricity

Simple voltaic couple

Steel horseshoe magnet

Copper and zinc gravity battery with raising and
lowering mechanism ...

A.D. — Apparatus for demonstrating.

Total

M,

O CO

25
25
22

25
40
26

25
22

15

24
22

24
22

24

15
21
22

35

Pricp:.

c

Pence. I Cash.
15 500
6^

16

9

14

2^
9>i
5%
8>^

3
3

rA

4X
3

13
A%
3

16X

434 1 1 2/2 >^

224
530
300
467
90
316
183
273

100
100
320
140
100
430

150
100

540

4,865

N. B. — Though we have made quite efficient telephones we
preferred, before making so many, to obtain from Shanghai really-
good foreign steel, which for magnetising, is much better than what
is obtainable here, and hence makes more reliable instruments.

SUMMARY

Number of students

Instruments made ...
Cost of one set of apparatus
Cost of total output ...
Average cost of apparatus ..
Maximum cost of apparatus
Minimum cost of apparatus

cash

26

434

4>865

122,791

283

540
90

Copper wire employed, all of which was covered with cotton by
students or by hospital patients, 1% English miles.

206 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

in Touch with Christ.

FROM AN INTERCEPTED LETTER.

I WAS alone in my study this afternoon meditating on the
Holiest, and the grandeur of His loving kindness over-
came me like some new, unheard-of revelation. Through
all struggles and conflicts, when least realised. He has been
close at hand, in the rush of work, in the bleak dullness of
over-wearied hours, in times of energetic aspiration, and when,
bound down in the depths too. He has been near, — accepting
my poor praises, or remaining patient under the slowness of my
recognition.

I seem to know Him well ; but what is He Himself like ?
I thought I knew Him once ; it was but the hem of His robe
that I had touched then. I have since seen a stalwart nobility
and a tenderness of penetrative sympathy in some Christian
characters which has gone beyond all of which I had imagined
Him to be capable. Strange to say that, after the historic life,
and Calvary ! But I mean, as a present-day Christ, as realised
in our e very-day life. All ideas of that present-day Christ
have had to expand, from new inrushings of His loving kind-
ness until, knowing more about Him, one seems to know less
and less of what His own infinite Personality must be like.

We speak to Him with reverent familiarity when we pray.
Could we speak to Him at all if we were to see the exceeding
glory of His person ? No faculty that we now possess but
would be paralysed were the full vision to be granted, the vision
of the Presence that is really before us all the time ! I do not
wonder that John the Seer fell at His feet as one dead. And was
the/?/// glory of the infinite Christ revealed before him then ?

Yet, thank God, we have had some vision of Christ. We
do know something of Him personally. And what would we
be willing to exchange that for ? Our arithmetic is not equal
to that sum ! For Christ, the Christ who shone through the
lives of some dear ones departed, and who is the radiance of all
that makes our heart-home, is our very life, our all in all. And
what would we exchange that for ?

It is easier to work out some lesser subject, to fix the atten-
tion upon things seen, to recall the outer events of the day.
But there^ around them all, is the enfolding presence, claiming
a fuller recognition. Here in this room is the familiar furniture,

1906.] In Touch with Christ. 207

but in the invisible space He stands^ whose presence makes
heaven heaven, and would fain make the world of men one great
home-circle. It is not empty air around. There is that Some-
thing which one feels to be here, that Someone who has listened
to all our thoughts and felt our every emotion of joy or sorrow,
who has planned all the good that has ever come to us and has
preserved us from evils that looked pleasant or repellant. He
is watching us now with a fixed gaze of untold tenderness.

He bids us call Him "Friend.'* Can we frame such a
word ? I used to once, but He was not measured then, and not
realised in the glory of His being. I have not measured Him
since, but I have heard that He is the King of Glory ! I know
He is. And what does thai mean ? It gathers up all the
splendours that the mind has ever pictured, and extends far
beyond until all thought is lost in a dazzling blaze. And dare
I call the King of Glory '* Friend *' ? Dare you ? Yet we essay
to utter the word, like little children overcome with shyness.
We try and whisper: *' My Friend, the Lord Jesus '\ The
sound of our voices seems strange to us. Are we indeed allowed
to say that ? We whisper it again all wonderingly, and some-
thing steals into our souls — a warmth, a permission, a response!
It is as though He uttered back to our inner consciousness :
** My friend.'' Can that be so ?

It is not lack of faith which makes us hesitate to take it
all in. It is the exceeding majesty of a privilege too vast for
the mind to grasp. Imagination almost shudders to picture
it forth. It passeth all understanding. Yet we know it to be
even so. And something inexpressible enwraps our souls ; — it
is that love which is deeper than our direst needs and higher
than all things noble. Christ is ours and we are His. We
whisper that to ourselves over and over again ; the whisper
becomes a quiet strain of melody and rises to a swelling
symphony, as of mighty chords struck by the minstrels of
eternity, until all that is within jus is swept along on a great
tidal wave of adoration. For we know that the Christ we adore
is He who loved us and gave Himself for us. . . .

And He tells us that by our prayers we may draw other
lives unto Him and cities and nations toward Him. Thank
God, we may pray for our kith and kin, our friends and all we
know, for our own land and for other lands daily, and never
without result. What a majestic outlet for all the Love He
pours into our lives !

208 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor.

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

The Educational Outlook in Wuchang.

II.

BY REV. ARNOLD FOSTER.

IN the January number of the Recorder I gave a brief
account of the principal schools and colleges that have
been recently opened under Chinese official auspices in
Wuchang. It will have been noticed that I said nothing about
female education. This subject is now under consideration
with the Chinese, and I am told that before very long both
day-schools and boarding-schools for girls will probably be
opened in the city. At present, so far as I am aware, the only
step in this direction taken by the authorities has been to open
first a kindergarten for little children of both sexes, and secondly
a small school for girls, where a few young women, some of
them married and some of them single, divide their time
between studying with a Chinese teacher and themselves giving
lessons as pupil-teachers to classes of younger girls. A Chinese
gentleman tells me that it is now becoming not uncommon in
families, where private teachers are engaged, for the daughters
of the household to receive instruction with their brothers. He
says, further, that there are several female teachers now living
in the city who go out as daily governesses, spending part of
the day in one house and part in another teaching Chinese
young ladies. Girls' boarding-schools in connexion with the
American Episcopal and the London Missions in Wuchang have
been opened for some years and are well filled. Girls' day-
schools exist in connection with several of the missions.

Those interested in the present scheme of State education
in China will find all the information they desire in a book
entitled $ ^ i$ ^ :S ^j published in four volumes by the Com-
mercial Press. Probably the way in which the scheme is
carried out will vary in different places and will depend not a
Uttle on the degree of sympathy which the higher officials in

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 209

the various provinces feel with the spread of Western knowl-
edge among the people. In Wuchang, as I have already
stated, the viceroy is keenly interested in the new educational
movement and is willing to devote all his available resources
to its support. This fact is not without its bearing on the
probability of Wuchang taking now, and continuing to hold
hereafter, a leading place among the chief centres of educational
and literary activity in China. And this, again, bears on the
importance of Christians doing all they can to secure that here,
in this central city of the empire, the highest education of all
shall be offered to Chinese students by scholarly Western
teachers, not only on Christian lines, but with that complete-
ness of organization, breadth of view and fulness of opportunity
which characterize our ancient English universities.

Before attempting to suggest a way in which we may, as I
believe, lay the foundations of a new Cambridge in Wuchang —
a university which shall in the days to come be all to China
and more than all that Cambridge or Oxford have been to
England, — I wish to deal with certain principles and preliminary
considerations which seem to me to be of great importance.

In the Report of the General Secretary of the Educational
Association of China submitted to the last Triennial Meeting of
the Society held in Shanghai, I find the following paragraph :
**At this moment the urgency of the problem of educational
co-operation is imperative. The activity and resources of
governmental and other non-Christian educational agencies
constitute a challenge to Christian schools to use every resource
of consecrated forethought, as well as of men and money, to
win not only the love but the learning of this empire for the
service of Christ." The proposals made in the present paper
are based on a recognition of the urgency of educational co-
operation between missions, and are due to a deep conviction
that we need ' to use every resource of consecrated forethought
as well as of men and money', l^oth to win and also \.o guide
the learning of China, not only for the service of Christ but
also for the manifestation before the Chinese of His glory, ' in
Whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.'

I read a short time since a paper — to me a very depressing
paper — entitle^ The Place of Edncatiojt in Missionary Work.
It was published by the Cambridge University Mission to Delhi
and was written by the Principal of that Society's college in
Delhi, presumably for the benefit of contributors to the mission

210 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

in England. The college has some seventy young men in it
and is connected with a school that accommodates over six
hundred Indian lads as pupils. The depressing character of the
paper lay in the fact that the Principal ol such an institution
should actually find it necessary to write for intelligent Chris-
tian readers in England in defence of the position that the
higher education of Hindus is an allowable object for an earnest
missionary to devote his time and strength to ! Over the Royal
Exchange, in the very heart of the city of London, may be seen
engraved in stone the words, '' The Earth is the Lord's and the
fulness thereof", a notice, as it were, to all merchants having
business there and to all passers-by that the builders of that
noble edifice wished to proclaim their faith that all a great
nation's commercial interests, all its imports and exports and
everything else pertaining to it are from the Lord, and should
be used to show forth His sovereignty and His glory. Strange,
indeed it seems, that any supporters of missions to the heathen
charged to "declare His glory to the nations and His marvellous
w^orks among all the peoples," should need any one to reason
and argue with them to prove that education, instruction con-
cerning the works of God in nature and in human history, is an
integral part of the work of the church in making known God's
glory to a nation of materialists, nature worshippers, and wor-
shippers of the dead !

Happily in China there is to-day a pretty general con-
sensus of opinion among missionaries that educational work
is one of the most important parts of the work of missions.
But we still have need to impress that conviction on the
churches at home. Not that every missionary is called
to engage in that work himself, still less are preachers and
pastors called on to give up preaching and pastoral work in
order to teach schools, but we preachers are learning, I hope,
to feel increasingly that the work of the preacher is a part only,
and not the whole of the church's mission, and that we need and
must have the support of the teacher and the educator unless a
large part of our own work is to fail of its full effect in the
regeneration of China.

In writing to-day to contend strenuously for one particular
form of educational development, I wish to disclaim all intention
of undervaluing any other developments that really are educa-
tional in their aim and in their results. All schools that have (i) a
worthy educational aim, and that are (2) efficient as schools^ have

1906.] Educational Department. 2il

my fullest sympathy. By a worthy educational aim I mean an aim
that is directed to training the mind and lifting up the intellec-
tual as well as the moral religious life of the scholars. Side by
side with the ordinary schools by which scholars pass upward
along a graded course of education there must always be
schools of a different kind which are more or less of a benevolent
character, schools for the deaf and dumb, schools for those
who are physically or mentally disqualified for the ordinary
course of education. These are of great value as witnessing
to our Saviour's loving care for all His little ones. But
such institutions can have no perceptible influence in ** winning
the learning of the empire for the service of Christ,'' which is
the subject now before us, and their maintenance cannot repre-
sent the fulfilment of any mission's duty in regard to education
proper.

Then are there not schools in connexion with missions
that cannot be said to be efficient as schools? Two or three
years ago I had the pleasure of listening to a very inspiring
address on elementary education by the Rev. W. Bolton, M.A.,
one of the most active of the directors of the London Mission
Society, who has had much experience in England as chairman
of a Local School Board near London. He laid stress on the fact
that schools that are opened for other purposes than those of
education, and with other motives than a desire for giving the
best education possible to the children that come to them, can
never be regarded as satisfactory from an educational point of
view. A school that is opened, e.g.^ with a view to getting children
to go to church, or with a view to bringing the minister responsi-
ble for the school into touch with the parents of the children,
has an indirect end in view, which, however laudable in itself,
is not educational ; the educational standard in consequence is
in danger of being a poor one, and the school is not likely to
come into line with any living educational system in which
education is honoured for its «own sake. Inferior schools
known by those who open them and keep them open to be
inferior, but opened in the hope of advancing in some way the
missionary cause, will not in the long run reflect much credit
on, or bring much strength to, missions. They may even create
prejudice in thinking minds against those who use education
only as a bait to draw children under religious influence, with
no sufficient sense of responsibility for maintaining at its proper
level the quality of the education given, as education, I need

212 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

not say that Mr. Bolton was keenly alive to the importance of
all our mission schools giv^ing sound religious instruction and
exercising a strong Christian influence over the pupils, but his
point was that the true religious ideal for our schools of all
grades requires that they should first and foremost rank high in
point of educational efficiency up to the standard that is gene-
rally expected of schools of the grade to which they belong.

And here I should like to digress for a moment to say some-
thing of the only way in which, as it seems to me, our
elementary schools can be maintained in a state of such living
and manifest efficiency that they will prove as much more
attractive than the Chinese non-Christian elementary schools,
as our high-schools prove more attractive than the Chinese
non-Christian high-schools. In each of the three high-schools
connected with missions in this neighbourhood, the L. M. S.
school in Hankow, the Boone school and the W. M. S. school
in Wuchang, pupils prepared to pay $io a month have to be
turned away in numbers, owing to our want of accommodation
at the beginning of every term. Yet many of them might
easily have got admission into the Wuchang government schools
of the same grade for nothing. Their parents, however, were
prepared to pay heavily for mission education in preference to
government education that was to be had gratuitously. I know
that by offering to teach English in our elementary schools we
could at once fill them up with paying pupils, but this is not
because of the educational value of such English as the pupils
would acquire, but because now-a-days even a smattering of
English which has no educational value at all is worth money
to lads who possess it as they go out into life at the age of
fourteen or fifteen.

I go further and believe that if we really aim at ' winning
the learning of China for Christ ' one of the most essential
things to do is to lay a sound foundation of instruction
through the medium of Chinese in our elementary schools and
to build up thereon a solid structure of the same kind in some
at least of our more advanced educational institutions. The
teaching of English in schools of the elementary grade, unless
in exceptional cases, I regard as being more likely to draw away
from the learning that China stands specially in need of to-day
than to advance it. At the same time my own experience
has shown me — and I find many other missionaries say the
same thing for themselves — that for men whose principal work

1906.] Educational Department. 21 3

is evangelistic and pastoral, to make the teaching in elementary
schools under their charge really efficient in regard to so-called
"secular" subjects, is exceedingly difficult to say the least.
For the success of the higher and of the highest education,
each grade of school that we support, beginning from the lowest,
must be of the best kind, and for the best kind of work we
must look to men who have been specially trained to do it and
whose first concern it is to attend to this and not to something
else. Our elementary schools will never be what they ought
to be till they are under the supervision and constant inspection
of educational missionaries. Much has been said of late about
* union ' among different societies in educational work. With
some of the proposals for union that I have heard I must
confess I am not in sympathy, believing that they are either
impracticable or that they would impoverish our missionary
work in some important aspects of it. But in connexion with
the supervision of elementary schools it seems to me that union
among missions is in many cases absolutely necessary and that
it is open to none of the objections that I, in common with many
others, see in proposals, e.g.^ to merge separate educational
institutions in one.

I will state the case for the union I am contemplating
in a concrete form. There are to-day in Wuchang five Pro-
testant missions working. Each of them has one or more
elementary schools. Probably were it not for the difficulty of
superintending such schools it would be possible for each
mission to open others of the same grade, either in the city
itself or in one of the suburbs. I can see no reason why
these five missions should not all combine to employ one
thoroughly trained educational missionary whose sole business
it would be to take the oversight of the *' secular '' teaching in
a certain number of schools supported by each mission that
invoked his help. The fifth part of the missionary's salary and
allowances would not be a very h^vy burden on any one of the
societies who joined in the compact. If one society had more
schools to be superintended than another it would naturally pay
a larger proportion of the cost of the scheme. The man
appointed would have, of course, to be a man of a catholic
spirit, who would enter heartily into the project and would, while
in the school of any particular mission, act as if he were a
member of that mission, teaching nothing which he believed
would not be in entire accord with the religious convictions of

214 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

his fellow-workers in that mission. On the other hand, the
other missionaries of that society would have a perfect right to
enter any schools supported by them at other times and either
themselves to conduct the general religious teaching given from
day to day; or, leaving that to the '* union" missionary, to
supplement his general teaching with any particular teaching
characteristic of the church to which they belonged that they
thought desirable. In time, perhaps each of the societies might
find its educational word prospering to such an extent that it
might see its way to employing an educational missionary of its
own, who could give his whole time to the schools of that
mission. I commend this proposal to the consideration of my
brethren working in large centres throughout China, but whether
in this way or in some other, if we are to make our higher and
highest education satisfactory, it seems to me indisputable that
it must be by having good primary schools from which to draft
boys into schools of a higher grade.

The schools of a higher grade themselves must of necessity
be of several different kinds. Some of them will be half
schools, half colleges. Some will not lay themselves out for
any very advanced teaching or make any provision for meeting
the needs of exceptionally keen and brilliant scholars who might
be expected hereafter to make their mark as theologians, or
as men of science, or men of letters. They will be content
with the task of training under Christian influences Chinese
youths to take their place as intelligent members of society
in such positions as teachers in secondary schools, interpreters,
clerks in offices, etc., etc. Other colleges again will aim
at training men for the pastorate, or for other positions in
which they may serve the mission cause. For the success
of such institutions it seems to me manifestly desirable, (i)
that they should be generously scattered about in different
parts of China so as to be brought within reach of as many
Chinese as possible, and (2) that somewhere there should
be one strong and advanced educational centre which would
always be within the mental horizon of students at those
scattered Christian colleges as the goal of their educational
aspiration, that they might ultimately go up there and get the
highest advantages of education to be had in China. The less
that any mission schools ask for official recognition or for any
other favours that are not freely and spontaneously accorded by
the Chinese, the better in my opinion it will be for them and

1936.] Educational Department. 215

for their alumni and the more healthy will be the atmosphere
encircling and pervading them.

I have no fear for the future of Christian schools and
colleges taught by Christian missionaries, who are : ist, born
teachers; 2ndly, thoroughly equipped for their work; and
3rdly, deeply persuaded of their divine mission and of its
sacredness. No Chinese official patronage, no worldly induce-
ments, nor any other like influence exercised on behalf of
the government schools and colleges of China can make an
education that is rooted in materialism, propped up by cere-
monies of worshipping the dead, saturated with the hope of
gain, distrustful of progress and committed to idolizing the
past, able in the long run to compete in its results with an
education that is based on a spiritual view of the universe,
upheld by faith in a living God and in the incarnation of the
eternal Word, that regards all knowledge and wisdom not as
mere capital for self-advancement or for national aggrandize-
ment but as opportunity for service and for the amelioration
of the condition of mankind, that reverences the past and
recognises the debt we owe to it, but lives in the present ever
striving after a golden age which is still in the future, when the
full ^ glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see
it together.' The ideal of Christian education is as far removed
from the ideals of Pagan education wherever found, as heaven
is from earth. Paganism has no religious interpretation of
nature or of history or of life to lift up its aims and aspira-
tions. It has no faith in all knowledge as being in some
way an unveiling of God's thoughts and no such enthusiasm
for guiding and moulding the lives of the young as Christ
has bequeathed to His followers. Every one will remember
George Herbert's verse —

•' A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye,
Or if he pleaseLh, through it pass,
And then the Ulaven espy."

The materialist — and Confucian teaching is essentially mate-
rialistic— looks on all the wonderful ' glass ' of this world as if
it were something opaque which constitutes the limit of all
earthly vision. He cannot, through the symbols of earth, discern
patterns of things in the heavens. He looks on all natural
phenomena as belonging wholly to this world ; he cannot look
through the temporal to the eternal. He has lost the key of

216 The Chinese Recorder. [April,

spiritual interpretation : * All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord. *

* The earth is full of Thy glory.' And yet

" This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold ;
Foi that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told."

* We want — said Bishop Westcott — above all things to show the
nations of India that our Faith hallows and illuminates all
knowledge and embraces all life.' 'We are in danger' he
said on another occasion, ' of losing sight of the nature of true
education. For the education which is truly education is not
that which communicates knowledge or power, but that which
quickens intellectual, moral, spiritual life ; not that which arms
the vigour of self-interest, but that which calls out devotion to
social duties ; not that which concentrates our efforts on what we
can gain for ourselves, but that which directs us to joys which
grow greater as they are shared by more ; which enables us, in a
word, to take possession of the wealth for which we were made
as men, to gain the vision of God, to hold converse with our
Father in heaven.'

(To be co7itmued.)

Correspondence.

CHURCH PRAISB. THE DEI.EGATES' VERSION.

To the Editor of To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder." "The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : With regard to the Dear Sir : In the February

article in the February Recorder number of the Recorder there

"Church Praise Department," is a letter by Dr. G. F. Stooke

I would like to ask if it would criticising the Delegates' version

not be better to broaden the of the Bible. But unfortunately

standard of music in China rather he gives examples of objectionable

than compose tunes which would translation ; and his examples

keep them down to their penta- are not taken from the Delegates'

tonic style ? The popular idea version at all, but from the

of Westerners is to elevate the Mandarin colloquial version. Dr.

Chinese in religion and civil- Stooke seems never to have seen

ization, which would certainly the Delegates' version. No won-

include music. It will take der if his literary friends tell him :

time, the same as anj^thing else, "If I wrote my examination

but it can be done as I can essay in a style like that, I should

testify. never become a hsiu-ts'aiy
Yours truly, Yours truly,

Mary J. Farnham. Wm. McGregor.

1906.J

Correspondence.

217

ANOTHER REPI.Y.

To the Editor of

*'The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : I have read Dr.
Stooke's leugthy letter in your
last number with a good deal of
surprise and regret. I feel as
if somebody had given a vener-
ated friend a severe handling,
and the Latin proverb " Quot
homines tot seiitenticE " came un-
bidden to my mind as I read. I
know not what qualifications
Dr. Stooke or his native friend
possess for criticising the Dele-
gates' version, but \do know that
he will have the great consensus
of Chinese scholars, both native
and foreign, against him when
he says that its literary style
is intolerable to the educated
classes. That it needs emenda-
tion and revision, that its mean-
ing is in places recondite, and
that it often paraphrases, instead
of giving the original, all must
admit ; but that it is not good
Chinese style cannot be truth-
fully affirmed. My writer, who
is a ** Ku-jin " and an excellent
scholar, says it could not be
ridiculed by educated Chinese
and that it may be given to any
scholar without fear of his
casting it aside as unworthy of
perusal. Dr. Stooke's friend
talks of the vain repetitions of
the version, but his first ex-
ample is a most unfortunate one.
The opening of the mouth
of Jesus Christ as an authorita-
tive and Divinely-sent Teacher
was what the world had been
waiting for for ages, and we could
not dispense wath the two charac-
ters objected to albeit the critic-
ism that He could not speak
without opening His mouth. Dr.
Stooke asks for some one brave
enough to give us a paraphrased
Bible. May I remind him that
such a production would be the

Word of God, plus Mr. So and
So's paraphrase, which might or
might not be correct.
Yours truly,

Li*. L1.0YD.

THE URGENT APPEAL, FOR SELF-
SUPPORT.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : There was published
recently in the North-China Daily
News a translation of the circular
issued by the tf S HP Sl^ fi S
jt -g" of Shanghai, and distributed
among the Chinese Christians at
one of their general meetings.
This translation exhibited the
promoters of this Association in
a very unfavourable light. By
calling the circular " A Trumpet
Call to Self-dependence," the
translator arrested the attention
of English readers and then pro-
ceeded to show them that certain
native Christians in Shanghai
are dangerous to the peace both
of Church and State.

Before drawing conclusions it
is always safe to have the pre-
mises right ; and in a case of this
kind, where the reputation of
Christians is so vitally concerned,
the translator, whom we suppose
to be a fair-minded man, should
have been absolutely sure of the
main proposition before deducing
the corollary embodied in the
editorial of the English news-
paper referred to above.

The part of the circular which
seemed to the translator to be of-
fensive and even dangerous reads
as follows: ^M%^-lt^%

B15 * « ■K fs a s 7 s- ^ 51

T^ etc. He renders it, "Then

218

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

fortunately Mazzini and Cavour
arose, and by tHese two heroic
ones we have the (united) Italy
of to-day. Can it be that the
men who compose the Christian
church will not also resolutely
recapture our ancestral land and
not longer e^idjire the insults a7id
bitter poison oj barbarians and
outsiders f Let an urgent voice
cry out and awake the people
from their deep slumber, and
stir up the spirit of national love
and earnestly complete the work
by following the lead given by
Italy," etc.

Beginning with the sentence in
italics (which are purposely put
to point out the error), which
stands in the translation for ^
^fȤ^ + A TO, etc., it will
be seen that " the men who com-
pose the Christian church (in
China) " is placed as the subject
instead of the two "heroic
ones." The clause should read,
"Were they (Mazzini and
Cavour) not Christians intent on
recovering the fatherland ? etc."
The subject being rightly placed,
it follow^s that the whole circular
becomes innocuous. The pat-
terns of patriotism recommended
in the circular may not be
perfect, but this fact does not
justify the public pillory of the
native brethren who seem to be
seeking self-support. Forty or
fifty years ago the diplomats
suspected a latent insult in the
character ^, and one Article in
the English Treaty relatively
forbids its use. This character
does not absolutely mean * ' bar-
barian," especially in composi-
tion with other characters like
1^. Neither does 4* ahvays mean
Chinese.

Under the caption "Self-depen-
dent Church Projects" the tfi ]^
^ 'fr S vigorously assails this
Association. " We have examin-
ed," it says, "the characters ^fi

and ^ in their connection with
the rest ; " and it seems the more
it examines them the more it
fears their direful import, as they
refer \.o foreign missionaries !

The following letter from a
missionary in Canton will clear
the " two or three individuals in
Shanghai who invented the facts ' '
about Mr. Wong from the serious
charge which this same periodical
makes against them : —

"There has been for many years
connected with the Presbytery of
Canton a Christian organization called
the 'Sz Li Ui' (@Hi<^), managed and
supported entirely by Chinese, and
receiving large contributions from
Chinese in California. Its minutes
are annually submitted to the Pres-
bytery, and when trustees are elected
their names must be endorsed by
Presbytery to make the election com-
plete. It has hitherto supported a
preacher and had a chapel in Canton
and also conveniences for boarding
and lodging for Chinese Christians and
their friends temporarily in the city.

Rev. Wong Yuk Shing has recently
returned from the U. S. A. with a
subscription amounting to |i2,ooc.oo
Tvlex. for enlarging the operations of
this society. The project is to do
what Mr. Wong styles home mission
work, mainly in the four districts
whence goes nearly all the emigration
to the United States. Mr. Wong is
from Lienchow originally. He gra-
duated from the Presbyterian Theolog-
ical Seminary in Canton twelve years
ago. As a student he was, what he
has been ever since, a good scholar, an
earnest Christian worker, and a fine
man every way. He is the Chinese
preacher who ten years ago was beaten
500 blows for his connection with the
mission. He bore it with the spirit
of a martyr, and when he had recover-
ed went straight on with his work at
Lienchow until he left for Honolulu
in 1900. He was pastor of the Chinese
church there for four years. The last
two years he has been preaching in
San Francisco. The organization could
not easily find a better man for their
new enterprise. Before entering on
this, however, he wishes to go for a few
months to Lienchow to help re-estab-
lish that station. "

Yours,

S. ISKTT WOODBRIDGK.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

219

THE TERM QUESTION.

To the Editor of

''The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In reference to the
* Term ' discussions which seem
to be increasing so alarmingly,
may I suggest a point which is
frequently overlooked ? It is not
in the power of the missionaries
to settle what term shall finally
be used for God or Holy Spirit.
The Chinese church will do this
later on when we missionaries
occupy a very different position
from what we do now. To
attempt to do for China what
later on will be done much more
easily and naturally is to do
what we often exhort our con-
verts not to do, viz., ^ '^.

There .is, however, one more
important matter which it is ours

to do. We should so live the
God-life before the Chinese that
though there may for a while
longer be a number of terms in
use, yet there shall be no con-
fusion in the minds of the people
around us as to what we mean
by God or Holy Spirit. Gradual-
ly from the lives of all Christians
in China will be gathered the
ideas which at present do not
exist in any of the several terms
in use.

I sincerely hope that this term
discussion will cease for many
years to come. There are other
and far more important matters
to be discussed, /f ^ ^ V-
Yours sincerely,

S. Pollard.

Chao-tonp, West China,
1 6th February, 1906.

Our Book Table.

We regret that pressure on our
space renders it necessary to leave
over to next issue reviews of the
following books : A Chinese
Bible Dictionarv, Commentary
on Jude, etc. (C. T. S.) ; One
of China's Scholars ; The Creed
of Christ ; The Celestial and his
Religions ; Useful Phrases in the
Shanghai Dialect, etc., as well
as Books in Preparation.

%%^%'n^%tLm-Xm- The Con-
ference Commentary on the Minor
Prophets — Hosea to Malachi. By
Rev. H. V. Noyes, D.D. Shanghai :
The Chinese Tract Society, 1906.

This book is prepared in an
easy style that can be readily
understood by^ the average read-
er. The expositions are not too
diffuse and the division of the
chapters into sections, indicated
by large type, will make the

study of this portion of God's
Word not only convenient but
effective. This volume completes
the Commentary of the O, T.,
and Dr. Noyes and others, to-
gether with the Chinese Tract
Society, are to be congratulated
on the splendid work they have
done in setting the truths of the
Bible before the Chinese in such
a clear light. The book may be
procured at the Presbyterian
Mission Press.
• W.

Wanted. — The November
issue of the Chinese Recorder
for 1903. The undersigned is
willing to exchange a bound
volume (i year's issue) of 1891
or 1892 for this number, or to
give a fair price for same.

S. Isett Woodbridge.

220

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

The Conference Commentary on the
Whole Bible. Shclngliai : The Chi-
nese Tract Society, 1906.

When missionaries first came
to China the great need was
Christian literature and the great-
est need was the Bible in Chinese.

The first translation of the
Bible was hailed with dehght,
because it marked a great ad-
vance in mission work.

Not only has the Bible been
translated in all of the written
dialects, but even the colloquials
have been reduced into writing
and the Bible has been translated
into them, so that all the people
have God's Word in a form that
they can read, and also under-
stand when they hear it read.
This is a result of which all
missionaries have the right to
be proud and grateful.

The next advance step was to
help the people understand the
Bible by preparing Commenta-
ries. This was too great an
undertaking for individuals, or
even missions, so the great Con-
ference of i8yo appointed a com-
mittee of the wisest and best
prepared missionaries to under-
take this work of writing a com-
mentary on the whole Bible to
be known as The Conference
Commentary. The Chinese Tract
Society undertook to publish the
work.

The volume on the Minor
Prophets, and the last of the
complete work, has just come
from the press, and is now on
hand for sale at the small price
of thirty cents ; the price of the
whole Commentary being only
$4.80.

This last volume needs no
word of praise ; it speaks for it-
self. Its size, appearance and
matter make it a w^orthy repre-
sentative of the work which it
completes.

R. T. Bryan.

Union Version of the New Testament.
Matthew - Romans. High W^n-li
Translation. Tentative edition.

All service for Christ is touch-
ed with sacred poetry, however
little the worker may see it in
the midst of his toil, — was a
thought brought home to one the
other day on seeing Dr. Morri-
son's New Testament of 18 14
and the latest revision of half the
New Testament in Chinese lying
side by side on the table of the
British and Foreign Bible Society,
Shanghai. What developments
have taken place since Morrison
set down the words : " Jesus was
led by the Sacred Wind (H)
into the wilderness " ! And now
the latest attempt to put into
Wen-li as much as Wen-li will
carry of the original New Testa-
ment phraseology and meaning,
is before us for comment. To
do so adequately would take
weeks devoted to this special
purpose alone, comparing all the
versions which have appeared
since that of Morrison. But time
only allows one to touch upon a
point or two.

The most important word in
the New Testament for mission-
aries as such is perhaps the word
dwiamis^ which Aristotle uses
to denote "a capacity or inher-
ent power or faculty which is
prior both to the exercise of force
and the production of effects,"
and which is the central word of
Our Lord's Last Great Commis-
sion which makes us mission-
aries.

In (i) Luke xxiv. 49; (2)
Acts i. 8 ; (3) Rom. i. 16, it is
rendered by the various transla-
tors as follows : —

Delegates'— (i);g|, (2) ;f , (3)

Dr.John-(i)tg:^,(2)tg j;;,

(3) ^ %■
Bishop Schereschewsky — (i)

«. (2) *. (3) -k IS-

1906.]

Our Book Table.

221

Union Easy Wen-li— (i) |[g,

(2) tt, (3) tt
Union High Wen-li— (i) gg,

(2) t^, (3) tk-

It will be seen that |^ is unfor-
tunate, as not representing the
original, and as suggesting the
phrase |i S ^o which the Chi-
nese have shown such practical
objection ; while :f hardly
represents the idea of working
power. And in many passages
the U. H. Wen-li revisers have
brought out the original in more
correct language and sharper
focus than the delegates did
before them. Their task has
been one of most painstaking
scholarship.

The difficulties in their way
are stated in the English intro-
duction : "The Committee has
striven to preserve the excellent
classical style of the Delegates*
version while improving the
fidelity of rendering. Chinese
thought lies as remote from New
Testament thought as does the
language from the Greek langu-
age. The more carefully literal
the translator strives to be in
thought and form the more thick
will be the veil that obscures the
thought to the Chinese reader,
through unfamiliar order of sent-
ences and forms of words."

While appreciating the many
instances where the fidelity of
rendering has been improved, it
was natural to test the perspicuity
of the Delegate and U. H. Wen-li
versions by submitting a chapter
like Rom. xii. to two Chinese lite-
rary men, versed in Chinese style
and familiar with much Chris-
tian teaching. Each read the
two versions by himself. Their
verdicts coincided. One said :
•' This is much better ; I cannot
understand 'that. What does
this clause and that clause
mean ? ' ' The other said : "This
is much better and clearer.

There is no comparison." I was
hardly prepared for such a defi-
nite preference of the Delegates*
version. But it was given
entirely without prejudice, and I
write it down wishing it had
been otherwise.

That Chinese students of the
Bible need to know all that can
possibly be conveyed from the
Greek into their language, there
can be no doubt. That out-
siders need a paraphrastic ver-
sion, answering to those frag-
ments paraphrased by Bishop
Lightfoot, or the whole as ren-
dered by Dr. Weymouth, is my
own firm conviction. Meanwhile
the Delegates* version seems to
hold a unique place of usefulness
for the general reader, though
our intelligent Christians will
welcome and appreciate such a
task of scholarship and labour
of love as the Union Wen-li
Translations.

W. A. C.

The Sacred Tenth, or vStudies in
Tithe-giving, Aiuient and Modern,
by Henry Lansdell, D.D. 2 vols.
Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge. London, 1906.

Dr. Lansdell is known as a
famous traveller and author. He
has travelled in every country of
Europe and Asia, five countries
of Africa and across America.
In 1888-90 he prospected for
missionary purposes, especially
in Russian and Chinese Turkes-
tan, visiting 170 foreign mission
stations in Europe, Asia and
Africa. He was the originator and
for long the editor of the Clergy-
vian' s Magazine. In these two
volumes he presents us with an
exhaustive study of the subject
of giving, which is more and
more to the front, as the calls for
charitable work are increasing.

The opening chapters show
that Egyptians, Babylonians,

222

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

Persians, Phoenicians and Ara-
bians, Greeks and Romans,
Pelasgi, Sicilians, etc., were all
givers, usually of a tenth, to their
gods. The author does not go
further East than India in his
investigations. He says that
high caste Brahmins spend for
religious purposes the equivalent
of a month's income per annum,
and the lower castes less, but the
average was not less than one-
thirteenth of their net incomes.
Similar statements are true of
the Chinese heathen, and we fear
that when they become Chris-
tians they do not give as much
as they did before, although
there is great advance observable.
From the Jews the payment
of two-tenths in addition to
God's tithe was required, and to
these the Rabbis added a fourth.
Tithing was the law during
Patriarchal, Mosaic, Old Testa-
ment, Apocryphal, and Talmudic
times, each of which is fully
treated. Then when we come to
the New Testament we are on
ground more attractive, and we
read of Christ's Attitude and
Example as to Tithing, His
Teaching on Tithing and Bene-
ficence, Early Christian Giving,
and St. Paul's Teaching and
Personal Example. Next come
chapters on Roman Catholic
Teaching, Practice and Legi^^la-
tion. Tithing in England is treat-
ed of in three chapters, and then
Tithe Abuses. Here we learn that
Henry VIII seized tithes of about
a third of the parishes of Eng-
land, and gave them to his
friends. About 5,000 lay-owners
now hold more than ^3,000,000
a year in tithes. This is a
surprising fact, and the author
thinks that this abuse has materi-
ally contributed to a lack of
personal tithing in England.

In the 2nd volume our author
deals with Modern Giving under

such titles as Present-day Giving
from Statistics and Observation,
Honorary Working, Tithing
by Individuals, by Congrega-
tions, by Societies, Reasons for
practice of Tithing. The reader
will probably be more interested
in the second than in the first
volume. The author's style is
pleasant, and he has spared no
pains on researches in the British
museum and elsewhere. If only
the right persons could be in-
duced to read this book, that is
the difficulty. Still the clergy,
etc., can do much to lead if
thoroughly convinced them-
selves. We thoroughly agree
with the author that systematic
beneficence and at least a tenth
is one of the crying needs of the
church to-day, and its general
adoption would mean an end to
all deficits, retrenchments and
special appeals.

The Bibliography on Tithe-pay-
ing contains the names of 588
publications, but omits Wheeler's
Ten Years on the Euphrates,
which records one of the most
sucessful attempts to introduce
tithing on the mission-field.

The subject of Giving needs
to be pressed on the Chinese
churches, and these volumes
might well yield an excellent
book in Chinese. The following
are not as well known as they
should be: S RS *&. 84 #.
Chinese Tract Society, Shanghai,
an original, amusing and incisive
story of a village church which
became self-supporting ; ^ JLilf)
Chinese Tract Society, Shanghai,
adaptation of " Thanksgiving
Ann;" and :/c t * 64 ^' S.
Messengers of the Great King,
all in mandarin. We have been
told that the reading of one of
these powerfully stimulated the
founding of the Chinese Chris-
tian Union. There seems no
reason why the Chinese should

1906.]

Our Book Table.

225

not be pressed to give at least
a tenth on some regular S3-stem,
for it seems too true that they do
do not give to the treasury of
Jehovah as much as they used to
spend on the false gods. In the
words on Dr. lyansdell's flyleaf : —

Right Giving is a part of Right

Living.
The Living is not right, when

the Giving is wrong.
The Giving is wrong when we

steal God's portion to hoard,

or spend on ourselves.

D. M.

fi* 5?T f?F "^ Hymn Book for Children,
with tiines. By Rev. F. W. Bailer.
Presbyterian IMission Press. Chinese
paper, 7 cents ; foreign paper, stiff
boards, 20 cents.

The name of the author of
this little volume is a household
word in China. After having
done literary work in many
lines, compiling a great diction-
ary, preparing an important book
of Mandarin lessons, illuminat-
ing a Chinese novel, writing two
important biographies and other
works in Chinese, and working
for years in Bible translation, Mr.
Bailer has now turned aside to
poetry and translated a volume
of hymns for children.

The book was at first a kind
of ' knitting work,' caught up at
odd hours in the midst of Bible
translation work. But by and
by this knitting w^ork began to
be pursued with eager interest,
and this booklet of fifty hymns
for children is the result.

The translation of the hymns
is generally in simple but chaste
language ; some of them being
quite equal to the original hymn,
while much care has been be-
stow^ed upon the rhythm as well
as the rhyme, so that the * * hymns
will 5/;/^." While the children
were had in niind in the selection
of hymns, the hymns may also
well be sung in the great congrega-
tion, fitting a variety of occasions.

The air has been printed with
each hymn in the staff notation
to the great comfort of all musi-
cians who shall use the book.

It may be added that the price
of the Hymnal is merely nominal
so as to suit all pockets.

Chauncey Goodrich.

Peking, February 24th, 1906.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Life in Wkst China. Described by
two Residents in the Province of
Szchwan. By Robert J. Davidson
and Isaac Mason. With Introduction
b}' Dr. T. Richard. London : Headley
Brothers, 14 Bishopsgate Street,
Without, B. C. 1905. I vol., cloth
2/6.

We hope to publish a review
in next issue. Copies may be
ordered through the Presbyterian
Mission Press, as an order has
been sent to London for a supply.

Prospectus of the Ruling Anglo-Ame-
rican School, 1905-1906.

Tien Tsu Hui (Natural Foot Society).
Ninth Annual Report, 1905.

Report of the Committee of the Bible
Book and Tract Depot. Hongkong,
1905-

Annual Report of the South China
Mission of the Southern Baptist
Convention, U. S. A., for 1905.

China. A Quarterly Record. Religious,
Philanthropic, Political. January,
1906. London : Oliphant, Anderson
and Ferrier.

BooNE Review. A Quarterly Maga-
zine issued by the teachers and
students of Boone College, Wu-
chang. February, 1906.
The very creditable first number of
•the successor to the manuscript
paper which has for years edified
the students of Boone School. A
companion magazine in Chinese is
also printed.

Light in the East. 30th Annual
Report of the Central China Reli-
gious Tract Society, 1905.
The circulation for the past year is
the highest yet attained by the
Society, totalling 2,565,524 books
and leaflets, an increase of 26,344
over the figures for 1904.

224

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

Editorial Comment.

Complfcattone.

As our last issue went to
press we included in the Diary
of Events some
of the extraor-
dinary circum-
stances that were telegraphed
from Nan-chang as indicating
some probable causes of the
deplorable tragedy of 25tli
February. Our hope that in
the following number reliable
particulars would be available
has been disappointed ; and we
can only say that against the
report we published that "the
priest stabbed the magistrate
twice, but now pretends that
the magistrate stabbed him-
self," is to be placed the pos-
sible hypothesis that the mag-
istrate committed suicide event-
ually, having first only the
idea of threatening the Fathers
with the prospect of a riot.

The latest particulars, accord-
ing to the North- China Daily
News are that, on the one side :

"Censors and others are memorial-
izing the Throne regarding the Nan-
chang affair and recommending that
an indemnity be claimed from France
for the loss and damage to the British
mission and for the murdered Protest-
ant missionaries, as well as for the
late magistrate Chiang, on the ground
that the whole trouble was commenced
by the French priests."

Whilst against this we read
that :

"It is reported in local Mandarin
circles that the French have formu-
lated their demands in regard to the
murders at Nan-chang under the fol-
lowing captions: — (i) Recognition of
the fact that magistrate Chiang com-
mitted suicide ; (2) Culprit officials
to be denounced to the Throne ; (3)
rioters to be punished ; and (4) a suit-
able indemnity for mission property
destroyed."

It is to be regretted that

whilst matters were being sifted

trbeattitu6C0f bytheauthor-

tbelHatlvelPtese. J"^'' '^^ "^-

tive press per-
sistently asserted that the
magistrate Chiang had been
wilfully murdered by P^re
Lacruche ; and we fear some
of the writers must have drawn
on their imagination for some
matters reported as having
actually occurred. Ghastly
photographs, reproduced by the
half tone process, were publish-
ed in several of the papers,
showing the dead magistrate
and priest ; one of the papers
referring to the latter as the
murderer of the magistrate.
A resident of forty years in
China wrote a letter of ex-
postulation to the editor of
the Nan-fang-pao^ and the
following is his answer : —

" Our object in publishing the pho-
tograph of the dead magistrate was
not to excite hatred against foreigners
or missionaries, but to enable our
Chinese readers to behold and re-
member the face of one of their offi-
cials who is generally considered to
have died as a martyr in standing up
to his country's rights."

♦ * *

We believe that whilst such

cases are sub pidice it is unwise

^ , , , to so influence a
Probable ^^^.^^^ ^^^ -^

®^"^^^^- sionable public. It
certainly is a temptation to
supply what are known to be
welcome viands, but — to change
our phraseology from gastrono-
mic to catastrophic illustration
— it is a fearful risk to throw
fire-brands around among loose

1906. J

Editorial Comment.

225

BuDi Bltcram
partem.

combustibles. Whilst the
Chinese are usually placid and
patient the events of the past
few years show the possibility
of a conflagration being easily
lighted which, fanned by pre-
judice and fed by fanaticism,
may cause fearful and wide-
spread disaster.

We trust that without cur-
tailing the legitimate liberty of
the press, it will be possible to
carry out such restrictive and
advisory measures as the laws
governing the foreign settle-
ments provide for.

* * *

At the same time we must
not be unfair and ungener-
ous to our na-
tive brethren in
the journalistic
world and to those for whom
they cater. We doubt not
that the recent manifestations
of racial prejudice, and the
tendency to ignore the native
standpoint, lead them to con-
sider it their function to voice
strongly the Chinese aspect of
this and other questions. And
when prominent Westerners,
who are supposed to be guided
by Christian principles, public-
ly show racial antipathies, we
ought to have a little patience
for those whose knowledge and
possession of restraining grace
has been of more recent ac-
quisition.

* * *

This whole question is ap-
parently entering on a more

«^«rmAM« ^^^^^ phase. We

^ ^ have the new spirit

rapidly coming over

China — a new spirit in which

there is a good deal of the old

Adam ; and marshalling against
this are the strengthened anti-
pathies which many from
Western lands express in a
variety of ways. There is
mucli need for all parties to
consider how collisions may be
avoided and how true harmony
may be promoted. The subject
is of such great importance
that in our next issue we hope
to discuss it more fully. We
expect to print the views of a
senior missionary in one of the
outports, where the relations
between Chinese and foreigners
have recently been discussed.
* * *

In a pamphlet recently issued
by Dr. C. A. Stanley on *'The
TTK-^rrv,.*,, Term for God and
- ^, Spirit in Chinese,'*

^""t'*"'- the root of the
Term Controversy is brought
to light. He says: "One
fallacy of those who oppose
the use of Shen for God, gods,
consists in trying to find a
term corresponding to God :
to Christianized Tlieos, not to
heathen theos. Such a term
does not exist in any tin-Chris-
tia7iizcd language. ' ' Probably
most advocates of either term
will agree to this statement
without a moment's hesitation ;
and yet each party will main-
tain that its chosen term comes
.nearer the Christian idea of
God than the other. Of late,
however, there has been a dis-
tinct willingness for compro-
mise on both sides ; a spirit
which has been welcomed by
the Recorder. The proposal
now before the body of Pro-
testant missionaries is for union
on Sheng-ling for Holy Spirit,

226

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

Sliang-ti for the name of God,
and Shen for the word god.
This compromise is, doubtless,
as hard for the one side as for
the other. The Recorder de-
sires a fair opportunity for the
missionary body at large to
decide for or against the ques-
tion in such a way that the
Bible Societies may, if practic-
able, print the Bible with one
set of terras.

* * *

We have thought it wise
and timely during the last year
or two to allow a certain

/IBarft

amount of discussion
of the question in our
columns. In the Recorder
for May, 1904, appeared a very
timely paper by Rev. G. G.
Warren ; and the editorial note
on page 265 of that issue shows
the position of the Recorder.
It appears that our friends of
the two sides have still much
to say on the subject ; but care-
ful consideration leads us to
the decision that it is best
now to "mark time," until
the vote upon the Peking
proposition is known. One
of our oldest missionaries, him-
self an ardent supporter of the
term Shen, asks for a clear
and definite statement of the
argument in behalf of Shang-
ti as the term for God. His
study of the writings on that
side has showed him argu-
ments against Shen, but he has
found no article ' ' stating the
case and defending the use of
Shang-ti." As we opened
our columns to Dr. Mateer's
careful etymological study of
the word jjii^ Shen, we should
in fairness give a similar op-

asotb TTerms
blesseD.

portunity to "the other side."
For the rest we feel that as
men's minds are already made
up, and letters received on
this subject are liable to rouse
discussion rather than aid in
decision, we shall in the main
preserve silence upon the Term
Question for the immediate fu-
ture.

* * *

It should be said, how-
ever, that the arguments of
certain of our
friends against
compromise are
far from convincing. It has
been pointed out more than
once that God has blessed the
work of missions where Shang-
ti is used, and also where Shen
is used. This seems to dis-
prove the assertion that Shang-
ti is a name as hateful to God
as was Baal, whose service had,
among the Jews, become a
licentious and revolting thing.
It was after reform with the
old name had failed that the
prophets denounced the word
Baal. Reform of the word
Shang-ti, its Christianizing
and rehabilitation has, in many
communities in China, become
fait accompli.

* * *

We must also recognize the

fact that our long controversy

«,v« .* * -.1. still w^ears a
malt tor tbe r • 1
«., *. ^ , , farcical aspect
IKlativc Decision. . .^ /^t,-

to the Chmese.

A generation ago the fathers

who argued the question could

say that the Chinese Christians

were not in a position to

appreciate the importance of

the question. This we can no

longer say. Those of the Chi-

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

227

nese who give an opinion on
the term question usually have
taken their opinion ready-made,
while we have heard of not a
few on each side who have,
alas, become turncoats and
declared for the other term.
For the rest, they wear a good-
natured but sarcastic smile when
the term question is spoken
of. It is a foreign question to
them. The surest way to end
this bewilderment is for us,
as foreigners, to compromise
as best we can and let the
Chinese, now well prepared
for the task, work out, under
divine guidance, the true solu-
tion. The fittest will survive.
It is whispered that more than
one staunch user of Shang-ti
among our senior missionaries
believes Shen to be etymo-
logically the right word for
0£oc ; one such said to us,
years ago, that the term would
win out in the course of a
century. But it will only win
out when its supporters allow
it to do so on its merits. And
if the prophecy is at fault, we
certainly want the Chinese
church to have the right term !
Let us, then, await with equa-
nimity the outcome of the pre-
sent movement.

Mr. Pollard's letter on page
219 came after the above
paragraphs were written and
add force to the reasons for
*' marking time."

* * *

Our leading article this

month — "Relation of Convert-

BDitncult -edPolygarniststo

(auestlon. Cliristiamty"-

is written oy

one who has had ample op-

portunity to study the subject
in its practical application.
Its publication will be op-
portune not only for mission-
aries in the field but for our
constituency at home. We
know of one Church Court that
will probably have the subject
up for discussion next month.
Mr. Ferguson says truly that
lately he has seen very little
in the Chinese Recorder on
this subject. When this Journal
was first started, however, the
subject of polygamy was
thoroughly ventilated, and our
readers will find in Vols. I, II
and III several articles which
bear directly on the case. A
good exposition will also be
found in Vol. XIV.

* * *

The conclusions reached by
Mr. Ferguson concur with the
action of the
Synod of China
which met in
Ningpo on October 20th, 1891.
At this Synod there were
present Drs. Mateer, Nevius,
Happer and others, who
became prominent in the
mission field. It was found
on reviewing the records of
the churches that a man having
two wives had been admitted
to church membership. None
of the members of the Synod,
^ far as was known, had the
least desire to encourage or
propagate polygamy, but the
vast majority, both native and
foreign, felt that some discre-
tion should be allowed to the
church authorities.

The Resolution reads :
' ' Whereas the members of
Synod are not agreed as to

^Toleration

228

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

what action should be taken
in reference to " this matter,
therefore resolved that the
several churches and presby-
teries be instructed to use great
care and circumspection in
cases of this kind, and to take
such measures as may seem to
them in accordance with the
spirit of the Scripture to correct
this evil."

Objection has sometimes

been made to the publication

^ ^ , ,^, of sermons and
Hn Crouch wttb j- .•

meditations in

^^"^^^^^ the Recorder,
but we feel sure no one will
grudge the two pages (206-7)
given up to extracts from an
intercepted letter. They come
from the pen and heart of
a busy worker, and whilst
these particular experiences
relate to the quietness of the
study we have no doubt that
with us he will desire a sense
of *'the enfolding presence"
in the busiest and most harass-
ing moments of the complex
and hurried life so many of us
have to lead. It doubtless is
easier to meet Christ in the
service in the native chapel,
or in the hospital ward, or in
the quiet work of the study, or
in the ministry in the school
or the humble Chinese home ;
but may we not be conscious
of His near presence in the
lower planes of service that so
frequently try our nerves and
tempers ? Realizing His pres-
ence we are thankful He is no
fanciful myth like an Isis or
an Odin, not even merely a
historical personage like Con-
fucius, but the divine Savior of

the world. We may at first be
impressed with a sense of such
dignity as abashed the traders
in the temple and say : ''Depart
from me, for I am a sinful
man"; but the realisation of
His being the Way, the Truth,
and the Life, will make us
desirous for His abiding, even
if our first sense of contact be
only that of touching the hem
of His garment.

* * *

In our February issue of

last year's Recorder we gave

c:^<^«^^ ^^^ o^ir readers an
Science anO ^ ^ t^

^ ,, account or Dr.

Wilson's efforts
to come into direct contact and
friendly intercourse with the
educated class through the
medium of a science room,
and by popular experimental
demonstrations and lectures on
science in its many practical
applications to modern life.
The interest excited was deep-
ened by the knowledge of the
important place given by Dr.
Wilson to the preaching of
the Gospel. We feel sure our
readers will welcome the ac-
count given in this issue of
what has been accomplished.
In case some may be inter-
ested in the proportion of the
students who are Chinese
graduates, we may mention
that out of twenty-six students
twelve are siu-ts'ais and five
are lin-seng.

Reference was made in

out last issue to the eight tliou-

^, , ^^ ^ ^ sand Chinese

Cblnese Stu&cntt ^^^^^^^^^ j,,

'"^«''«"- Tokyo. We
are pleased to learn that as

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

229

a result of the investigation
made by Mr. Lyon an effort
is to be made in their behalf
by the General Committee of
the Young Men's Christian
Associations of China, Korea
and Hongkong. The work
will be along lines similar to
that already successfully carried
on by the Association in points
like Shanghai and Tientsin.
It is proposed to have four
secretaries, two Chinese and
two foreign. A building will
be rented in the heart of the
student section, which will
serve as headquarters and
provide accommodations for
evening classes, a reading room,
a social room, a lecture room,
and possibly a restaurant.
Classes in English will be used
to bring the secretaries into
helpful contact with the stu-
dents. Bible classes and relig-
ious meetings will be a part
of the programme. Eminent
Japanese educators and states-
men, whose lectures will be
eagerly listened to by the
Chinese students, but who have
been unable to speak to them
heretofore, will be asked to
deliver lectures through inter-
preters. A few well-known
missionaries in China will be
invited to visit Tokyo for the
purpose of delivering special ad-
dresses. Others on their way
to and from Canada or the
United States will be asked
to speak during their stay in
Japan.

This effort will appeal to
every friend of China, native
and foreign, as one of far-
reaching importance and very
great timeliness.

The following telegram has
been received through the Gen-
^ ^„ , eral Committee of

aroelcomc j,,^ Young Men's
flScssagc. christian Associa-
tion : — "Four thousand dele-
gates Volunteer Convention to
China Missionaries. Joshua i.
9." The verse which is re-
ferred to reads as follows : —

**'H.ave not I commanded thee? Be
strong and of a good courage ; be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the
Lord thy God is with thee whitherso-
ever thou goest.**

These quadrennial volunteer
conventions are the most re-
presentative missionary gather-
ings on the North American
continent. At the last conven-
tion, held in Toronto, there
were nearly three thousand
delegates from more than forty
denominations, nine hundred
colleges and universities, with
representatives from the leading
missionary boards, and editors
of the leading missionary peri-
odicals. The convention this
year met in Nashville, Tenn.,
the educational centre of the
southern states.

The missionaries in China
will join with us in expressing
our deep appreciation of such
a message from such a body.
There is no more encouraging
sign in the whole missionary
enterprise than the deepening
interest on the part of university
students throughout the world.
* * *

Rev. Dr. Howard Agnew

Johnston, a well-known New

^ , ^ , York clergy-
5)r. 5obn6ton'5 ^^^^ ^^^^^ f/^^

^^^^^- left his pastor-

ate for a year and a half at the
importunity of many friends

230

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

of missions, is expected s(>on
in China. His jonrney has
already taken him to the chief
mission stations of Tnrkey,
Syria, Egypt, India and Siam,
and on April 24th he will
arrive in Shanghai. He is to
visit also Ningpo, Hangchow,
Soochow, Nanking, Wei-hsien,
Chefoo, Tientsin and Peking.
Dr. Johnston expects to at-
tend three Summer Conferences
of the Chinese Y. M. C. A.,
and it is hoped that he can so
arrange his travelling schedule
as to be present during the
summer at Pei-tai-ho, Kuling
and Mokanshan.

Several missions have been
in direct correspondence with

Dr. Johnston, but it is expected
that at each point a local in-
terdenominational committee
will be formed to carry out the
local arrangements.

Dr. Johnston is not only a
preacher, but a noted Bible
teacher, and one of his central
ideas is to promote what is
called "personal work." At
the great centres in India, we
learn from a missionary who is
just passing through Shanghai,
Dr. Johnston spoke at parlour
gatherings, at union meetings
of missionaries, to non-Chris-
tians, particularly of the stu-
dent class, and with very great
helpfulness to all.

Missionary News.

The Executive Committee of
the T'ien Tsu Hui (Natural Feet
Society) have made a new de-
parture this year by bringing out
a Chinese edition of their report.
They are having a large number
printed. Anyone interested in
the movement who would like
to have some can get them by
applying to the Hon. Secretary,
Mrs. Cornaby, 33 Range Road.

Presbyterian Union.

The Synod of West Kwang-
tung, in accordance with the re-
commendation of the Committee
on Presbyterian Union, was
organized at Canton February ist
by the election of Rev. H. V.
Noyes, D.D., Moderator, and
Rev. A. Beattie, Ph.D., Stated
Clerk. Action was taken, asking
the General Assembly, U. S. A.,
to authorise a separation from
the Home church to take part

in forming a union Presbyterian
Church in China.

The Synod of Central China
meets May 24th in the First
Presbyterian Church at Nanking
and invites all Presbyterian
ministers and a delegate from
every organized session in the
provinces of Anhui, Chehkiang,
Hunan, Hupeh, Kiangsu, Kiang-
si and Szechuen to unite in or-
ganizing a union Synod.

A Forward Movement
in Shanghai.

Early in December last an in-
formal conference of the twelve
heads of missions having church
or evangelistic work in Shang-
hai, met to discuss the need of
a spiritual movement forward.
They decided that to be most
effective this should not be a
movement by foreigners tor Chi-
nese, but that it should be con-

1906.]

Missionary News.

231

ducted by Chinese. Various
members consulted with their
Chinese associates, with the re-
sult that the Chinese clergymen
and other Christian workers met
daily for ten days at the Chinese
Y. M. C. A. to pray about the
matter. No discussions were
held till the last meeting.

It was decided to invite Dr.
Y. S. U and the Rev. B. D. U,
of Soochow, to visit Shanghai
after the New Year. Three
thousand confession and prayer
cards were distributed to Chinese
Christians, and on February 13th
the meetings began. They were
strictly limited to Christians.
Five meetings, with an average
attendance of thirty-two Chris-
tian workers were held at the C.
Y. M. C. A. and " four workers'
tiffins" followed. For eleven
evenings, in the midst of con-
stant rain, an average of probably
200 church members assembled
at the London Mission and
Presbyterian churches. The
** doctrine " presented had no
spectacular features, but was a
remarkably direct and uncom-
promising call for full surrender
and obedience to God. Dr. Li
addressed the missionary prayer-
meeting by invitation (quite
unusual), and his statement
that the lack of spiritual power
amongst Chinese Christians was
largely due to the same lack
among us, foreigners, who are
here as the instructors and
leaders of the Chinese, was re-
ceived by an audience conscious
of its truth.

Dr. Li's last meeting was
largely attended, and for two
hours there was a stream of
prayer, testimony and confession
of sin. Special meetings were
held at the McTyiere and Bap-
tist schools, resulting in conver-
sions. The Yokefellows Band
at the Chinese Y. M. C. A.

planned a series of meetings for
English-speaking non-Christians.
These have just closed, having
been addressed by Mr. F. S.
Brockman on four evenings.
Audiences larger than have ever
been crowded into the rooms
listened ; two after-meetings were
held with about fifty enquirers, of
whom twelve publicly expressed
their purpose to be Christians.
Some of these were men of pro-
minent families, and will have
opposition and temptation to face,
but all of those who definitely
decided had been in past years
students in Christian colleges,
but had made no open confession
of Christ.

R. E. L.

Steps toward Federation.

We have been asked to publish
the following circular : —

At the conference held in Peking
on September 28th, 1905, and the
succeeding days (a report of which is
shortly to be sent to each missionary
in China), the following among other
resolutions were adopted : —

(i). Resolved that in view of the
almost unanimous wish of the
missionaries in China for some
form of federation of the
Christian churches of the
Empire, steps be taken to form
a representative council or
committee, in which the native
church shall be adequately
represented.

(2). Resolved that we appoint the
Peking Committee on Union,
together with such missionaries
in other parts of China as
they may invite to co-operate
with them, as a committee for
the purpose of securing such
a representative council or
committee, — the work of this
preliminary committee to cease
when the representative council
or committee has been formed.

(3). Resolved that this represent-
ative council or committee be
asked to take into careful
consideration the outline of a
tentative scheme of federation

532

The Chinese Recorder.

[April,

already prepared by the Pek-
ing Committee on Union.

(4). Resolved that all actions of
this representative council or
committee be regarded as
tentative and experimental, and
that the}' be reported to the
Centenary Conference of 1907
for its consideration and
revision.

(5), Resolved that this conference
appeals to the brethren of all
missions and churches to con-
tinue earnestly in prayer on
the subject of federation, and
to pray especially that the Holy
Spirit may come in unifying
power upon the whole church.

In pursuance of the instructions
contained in the second resolution
quoted above, the Peking Committee
has met more than once, several new
members have been co-opted on it,
and I am now authorised to write to
you as follows : —

I. — We think that a representative
council or committee can best be
formed if its members are elected by
four divisional councils or committees,
one for each of the four divisions of
China — South, Central, West, and
North.

2. — The scale of representation on
the representative council or com-
mittee might be one foreign and one
Chinese member to every hundred
missionaries— a residue of more than
fifty to count as a full hundred. On
the basis of the Missionary Directory
for 1905 this would give : — For vSouth
China, about five foreign and five
Chinese members ; Central China,
about eight foreign and eight Chinese
members ; West China, about two
foreign and two Chinese members ;
North China, about six foreign and
six Chinese members.

3. — The four divisions of the Empire
referred to are made up as follows : —
South China— Kwangtung, Kwangsi,
and Fukien ; Central China — Hupeh,
Hunan, Auhui, Kiangsu, Kiangsi, and
Chekiang ; West China — Szechuan,
Yunnan, and Kweichow ; North
China — The Manchurian Provinces,
Chihli, Shantung, Shansi, Shensi,
Honan, and Kausu.

4. — The divisional councils or com-
mittees which will elect these repre-
sentatives (both foreign and native),
ought to come into being as soon as
possible, to allow of the represent-
ative council or committee meeting
and preparing its report in time for
the Centenary Conference in 1907.
For this reason, while heartily de-

sirous to see our Chinese brethren fully
represented as soon as practicable in
all councils or committees formed in
connexion with federation, we do not
deem it advisable to attempt to secure
any representation of the native
churches on these divisional councils
or committees at present.

5. — We may say that it is our in-
tention to endeavour to form divisional
council or committee for North China
in the following way : —

(a) The divisional secretary hopes
to get into touch with corre-
sponding members in each
mission through the present
circular.

(b) Each mission in the division,
irrespective of the province or
district where it is working,
will rank as a single unit for
the purpose of representation,
e.g., all the American Presby-
terians in North China will
form one such unit.

(c) Each unit as above defined will
elect its own representative on
the divisional council or com-
mittee ; if it has twenty or
more missionaries (men and
women, excluding wives of
missionaries), it will elect two
representatives.

(d) A meeting of these represent-
atives, i.e., of the divisional
council or committee, will be
held, if possible, in the summer
of 1906 at Pei-tai-ho, primarily
to elect the North China repre-
sentatives (foreign and Chinese)
to the representative council or
committee, and also for the
discussion of such subjects as
they may deem desirable, es-
pecially with a view to enabling
their representative to represent
their views adequately on the
representative council or com-
mittee.

6. — In West China the advisory
board already in existence might
perhaps act as the divisional council
or committee for that division of
China.

7. — The chief object of this circular
is to ask you if you will be so good
as to help to form a divisional council
or committee in your own division of
China, by laying the whole matter
before your mission throughout the
division, with suggestion that the
method proposed for North China or
any other method likely to attain the
object aimed at, be adopted as soou
as possible in your division.

^906.]

Missionary News.

233

8. — The following have been asked
to act as secretaries for the four
divisions : — For South China, the
Rev. T. W. Pearce, London Mission,
Hongkong ; Central China, the Rev.
Spencer Lewis, Methodist Ep. Mission,
Nanking ; West China, the Rev. G.
E. Hartwell , Cheng-tu, via Chungking;
North China, the Rev. S. E. Meech,
London Mission, Peking.

9. — If you are not able to undertake
the work alluded to in paragraph 7
above, would you kindly get some
other member of your mission (in
your own division of China), to do so,
and communicate his name as soon
as possible to the secretary for your
division as above (see par. 8.) But if,
as we hope, you will kindly under-
take it yourself, will you let the
secretary know as soon as possil)le ?

10. — We have thus endeavoured to
acquit ourselves of the task imposed
upon us ; we have outlined a plan by
which we think the representative
council or committee can be effective-
ly formed, viz., by election on a
conmion basis through the medium
of divisional councils or committees
representing the four divisions of
China. Further, we have drawn up
a plan on which we in North China
propose to elect our own divisional
council or committee, and we are now
submitting it to our brethren in case
it may prove useful as a basis for
developing better plans in the other
divisions of China. And lastly, we
have urged the need of prompt action
if the representative council or com-
mittee is to report to the Centenary
Conference at Shanghai in 1907.

II. — In issuing this circular, we
would call special attention to the
fact that in seeking the formation of
such a representative council or com-
mittee we are not only carrying out the
instructions of the Peking Conference
of last September, but also trying to
give effect to the wishes of a very
large majority of the missionaries in
China. When that council has been
formed, our duties and our existence
as a committee cease. But in order
that the council may be thoroughly
representative, it is essential that all
missions should do their part in the
formation of it through the divisional
councils or committees ; and in order
that none may be deterred from so
doing we wish Qnally to point out (i)
that by taking part no mission com-
mits itself to approval of any particu-
lar scheme of federation, and (2)
" that all actions of the representative
council or committee, when formed,
be regarded as tentative or experi-

mental, and that they be reported to
the Centenary Conference of 1907 for
its consideration and revision," in
accordance with the resolution of the
Peking Conference.

Hoping that you will co-operate

heartily in this matter, especially by

putting yourself in touch with your

divisional secretary without delay,

Believe me, yours sincerely,

For the Committee,

Thos. Cochr.\ne.

P. S. — The expenses in connexion
with the preliminary work of our
committee have been kept as low as
possible, but no funds are available to
meet them other than the voluntary
contributions of those who are ear-
nestly anxious to see this work bear
fruit. Any donations will therefore
be welcomed by our treasurer, the
Rev. W. S. Ament, D.D., American
Board Mission, Peking.

OUTUNE OF TENTATIVE SCHEME OF
FEDERATION.

Title, — The federation of the Chris-
tian churches in China.

Object.— To federate all Christian
churches in China with a view to
closer union hereafter.

Methods. — ist.— The formation of a
representative council in which the
native church would be strong!}- rep-
resented to meet annually in diflfer-
ent parts of China in turn.

It would probably be necessary to
have a series of councils, ranging from
district and divisional councils, meet-
ing frequently up to the council
representative of the whole field.
But whatever plan may ultimatel}' be
adopted, it is necessary to recoj^nise
the need of the full co-operation of the
native church and its adequate rep-
resentation in all conferences or
councils.

2nd. — The appointment of two cor-
responding secretaries — one native and
one foreign — who would serve as a
link between the various missions and
^urches now at work throughout the
Smpire. These secretaries would be
appointed by the representative coun-
cil to hold office for one year, or
until the appointment of successors.

It shall be their duty to act as the
recognised medium of communication
between any one or more missions or
churches and all the rest, on questions
bearing on the subject of federation,
or in any way tending to promote
union.

3rd. — The representative council
shall have power to appoint com-
mittees to deal with such matters as

234

The Chinese Recorder.

[April, 1906.

those enumerated under the next
heading, viz., that of work.

Work. — To encourage everything
that demonstrates the essential unity
of Christians, as e.g. : — (i). Union in
educational work. (2). Mutual divi-
sion of territory to avoid overlapping.
Free interchange of members. Oc-
cupation of vacant fields. (3). Com-
pilation and use of a union hymn
book, (4). The use of common

designations for street chapels and
places of worship, without the addi-
tion of any foreign name. (5). The
use of common terms for God and the
Holy Spirit. (6). The encouragement
of the consideration of all questions
likely to lead to the extension of
Christ's Kingdom in China, such,
e.g., as translation and literary work,
social work, united missions of an
evangelistic character, etc., etc.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

At Dong-shang, February 6th, to Dr.

and Mrs R. E. Shields, S. P. M.,

a daughter (Evy Tucker).
At Shanghai, March 17th, to Rev.

and Mrs. JOSEPH WhiTESIDE, M. E.

M. S., a daughter.
At Shanghai, March i8th, to Dr. and

Mrs. J. CORMACK, Iv. M. S., a son.
At Wu-chang, March 22nd, to the

Rev. and Mrs. S. Tannkvist, S. M.

S., Huangchow, a son (Nils Gustaf

Andreas).

MARRIAGES.

At Chungking, January 9th, ROBERT

L. McIntyre and Miss. E. H. A.

Spiller, C. I. M.
At Chungking, February 13th,

Douglas F. Pike and Miss h.

Boulter, C. I. M.

DEATH.

AT Shanghai, March 24th. Isabella
Ayton Young, wife of John Darroch,
Shansi University Translation Dept.

departures.

From Anping, Formosa : —

February i6th, Mr. R. F. Johnson,
E. P. M., Tainan, for England.

From Shanghai :—

February 5th, Dr. H. L. and Mrs.
Parry and three children, Mrs. W.
T. Herbert and child, F. and Mrs.
TuLL and child, all C. I. M., for
England.

February loth, A. and Mrs. Orr
Ewing and five children, C. I. M.,
for England.

February 24th, A. H. and Mrs.
Barham and two children, C. I. M.,
for England.

March 6th, Miss A. M. Todd, M.
E. M., for U. S. A.; Mrs. J. R.
Watson and child, E. B. M., for
England ; Miss A. B. Richmond,
A. P. E. C. M., for U. S. A.

March 9th, Rev. J. Vyff and child,

D. L. M. ; Pastor P. Kranz and
family, for Europe.

March 19th, Rev. and Mrs. Fleming
L. James, A. P. E. C. M., for U. S. A.

March 20th, Mrs. Ed. James and
two children, M. E. M., for U. S. A.

March 21st, Mrs. C. S. Lincoln
and child, Rev. B. Iv. Ancell, A. P.

E. C. M. ; Bishop and Mrs. J. W.
Bashford, M. E. M., for U. S. A.

March 23rd, Rev. J. W. Inglis, wife,
and two children of Dr. Christie, U.

F. C. S. M., for Scotland.

March 24th, F. and Mrs. Blasner,
C. I. M., for Germany.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai : —

February 13th, D. A. G. and Mrs.
Harding (ret.), Miss A. M. Munson,
for C. I. M.

February 17th, Dr. F. H. and Mrs.
JUDD (ret.). Dr. John C. Carr,
Misses It. McFarlane (ret.), I. CoR-
mack (ret.), J. E. McN. Macdonald,
I. Smith and S. Romcke, from Eng-
land for C. I. M.

March 4th, Dr. Elizabeth Reif-
SNYDER, W. U. M., Shanghai ; Dr. R.
EwAN, wife and two children, C. M.
M. (ret.); Rev. J. H. Blackstone,
wife and child, M. E. M. ; Rev. W.
S. Paris (ret.), and Miss M. Paris,
A. P. M., Ichowfu ; Mrs. A. T. Mills
(ret.), Chefoo; Rev. R. S. Torrey,
M. E. M. ; Miss E. Hoskyn, Miss P.
C. Mason, C. I. M.

March 17th, Misses A. Robotham
(ret.) and D. H. Conyers, from Eng-
land for C. I. M., Rev. T. C. Fulton,
wife and child. Misses M. McNeill,
M.D., and E. Simons, M.D., all
(ret.), for I. P. M., Manchuria.

At Chengchow, Honan : —

March 3rd, Misses L- E. Millican,

B.A., and L. Peterson, A. F. M. M.
March 13th, Bishop W. A. SellEN

and wife, A. F. M. M.

PAGODA AT THP: SUMMER PAT.ACE, PEKING.

FRONT VIEW OF THE SAME.

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. MAY, 1906. NO. 5.

Policy and Methods for the Evangelization
of Korea.

BY REV. SAMUEL A. MOFFETT, D.D., PVENG-YANG.

[The following paper has proved so useful and inspiring to several of the
younger missionaries in China to whom the manuscript had been lent, that
we have obtained the consent of the author to its publication for the benefit
of a much larger number. — Ed. Rkcordkr].

TAKING precedence of and more important than any mere
policy or methods are the basal principles or convictions
which underlie the work of evangelization and from
which it obtains its vitality. To Dr. Herrick Johnson I shall
ever be grateful for the expression *' A vivid and abiding sense
of the Divine reality of the Gospel message/' an expression
which has gripped me as expressing the basal principle upon
which must rest any successful policy or method for evangel-
ization. The reality of sin, of its exceeding sinfulness and
the awfulness of its punishment, the wrath of God ; the reality
of repentance and the absolute remission of sin to the truly
penitent ; the reality of the regenerating work of the Holy
Spirit, of faith in Christ as the one and only way of sah^ation, —
the supernatural, divine reality ^f this message vividly and
abidingly grasped as a profound conviction that this Gospel is
the power of God unto salvation and that God is able and
willing to save any and all who come unto Him, is pre-eminently
the sine qua non for the missionary in order to affect profoundly
any people for their salvation — for evangelization.
I would place therefore —

First. — The cultivation and conservation of this conviction
for upon this Satan makes bis chief attack, knowing full well

236 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

that in so far as he weakens this conviction, in so far he has
blunted the most formidable instrument in the hands of the
missionary in his warfare against Satan's dominion over the
world and in his evangelization of the world for his Lord and
Master Jesus Christ. I am deeply convinced that our greatest
need in the evangelization of Korea is unquestioning reliance
upon the Gospel itself, the Word of God in its principal
teachings of sin and salvation ; a belief that when God ordained
that by the foolishness of preaching men were to be saved,
He ordained that which in His infinite wisdom He knew to be
the best agency for the redemption of man ; a belief that the
Spirit of God does- and will honor the use of the Word of God
alone and that in so far as we trust in secondary agencies for
reclaiming the heathen, in so far we have given up faith in
the primary agency and prevent the Spirit of God from using
His instrument which God ordained should be the means for
the salvation of the world. What will militate most against
the evangelization of Korea will be a lack of faith in the
power of the Gospel itself, a belief (not acknowledged nor
consciously held but nevertheless real) that there must be
something used as a bait to bring people under the power of
the Gospel, that secondary agencies which appeal to the natural
man must be used as an attraction which will dispose favorably
to a hearing of the Gospel. The danger is that there be a
relegating of the Gospel (not avowedly or intentionally, but
practically) to the secondary place, — an elimination to a large
extent of the very means and the only means which the Spirit
of God has given us to believe that He will use to bring souls
into reconciliation with God. This will be avoided in propor-
tion as we are possessed by the conviction and a vivid and
abiding sense of the Divine reality of the Gospel message.

Second. — I would place next in order for our thought (not
distinguishing as to order of importance) — the determination
to make it the one chief interest, the all absorbing task of one's
life to preach this Gospel and bring it into contact with the
people in the belief that the Gospel message is the one thing of
importance to every man, the one thing which he needs.
Nothing should come in to prevent a close, intimate, loving
contact with the people, a sympathetic entrance into their inner
life, their ways of thinking, their weaknesses, prejudices,
preferences, their trials and sorrows and spiritual struggles, —
a real love and sympathy for them, not an abstract interest in

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 2}7

them as so many heathen to be converted, baptized and reported
upon as so much in the way of mission assets, but an unfeigned,
living, personal touch and love and sympathy for individuals
with a heart yearning for a transformation of their lives through
a personal faith in Christ. Dominated by a sense of the
supreme importance of our message to this people as the one
and only reason for our being here, as the one and only thing
in which we are interested or which we have which is of
any real use to them, we shall in daily contact inevitably give
the impression that we ourselves believe there is nought of
really great import to them but the truths of sin and salvation
and that practically we have no other interest and nought else
of real interest, our message being the supreme concern of man,
both for this life and that which is to come. This conviction
deeply inwrought into our very being and dominating us we
will talk, walk, eat, sleep and think the Gospel all day and
every day in natural, informal contact with any one and every
one until the conviction is forced upon others that we V>elieve
this to be the supreme interest of life and that our all-absorbing
passion is the work of soul-saving, of soul-developing.

Third. — The conviction that the spiritual advantages of
Christianity are pre-eminently //le advantages, the value of the
Gospel message and therefore the placing of the spiritual
advantages in the forefront and the basing of all appeals upon
these. There are many secondary advantages, the results of
Christianity, and the temporal blessings which accrue to the
Christian are often very great indeed and stand out with great
prominence. These are the advantages which appeal to and
receive the commendation of the statesman, the reformer, the
politician, the merchant, the man of the world ; but in the
proclamation of the Gospel, when the material, financial,
intellectual or political advantages of the spread of Christianity
are placed in the forefront, then the appeal is to the natural man,
to the lower motives, and this appeal to any other motives than
the highest based upon man's spiritual needs is a discarding of
the most powerful agency placed in our hands, is a dropping
of the use of the supernatural, and indicates a lack of faith in
the spiritual and in the power of the Spirit of God to affect
by spiritual, truth in its appeal to man's spiritual needs his
acceptance of the Gospel. The Spirit of God does not bless
lack of faith but does honor and bless an unquestioning faith and
reliance upon spiritual means to affect spiritual ends. With an

238 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

implicit faith in the power of the appeal to man's spiritual needs
— the keeping in the background of all the secondary advantages
of political influence, of worldly advancement, of educational
opportunities, anything which appeals most strongly to man's
selfish nature, and the placing in the forefront always and
everywhere the joy of reconcilation and communion with God,
the relief from sin and its punishment, the assurance of the love
of God and of the pardon of sin, the hope of eternal life, the
comfort and peace of the believer from the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, the sympathy and help of Christ in all the trials
and sorrows and struggles of life, the eventual triumph of
justice and righteousness and the establishment of God's kingdom
in righteousness and glory — these great uplifting, inspiring truths
which are the preeminent and real and eternal blessings of
Christianity — the keeping of these in the forefront and appealing
to men to believe in Christ because of the inherent eternal need
of man as a spiritual being for these blessings of fellowship
with God through Jesus Christ — this is to make use of that
which the Spirit of God delights to honor and which becomes
the power of God unto salvation giving as the result in the hearts
and minds of men a faith which rests upon no mere temporary
or temporal advantage but rests solidly upon the eternal verities
of spiritual truth. With a conviction born of an experience
of the inestimable worth of these spiritual blessings we can hold
forth to these people the spiritual joys and blessings of Christian-
ity as far outweighing in importance and value any material
prosperity, and can bring them to the same appreciation of
the value of spiritual blessings, so that with Paul they will
count all but loss in order to win Christ and will count as their
greatest, most priceless treasure their fellowship with Christ,
to retain which they will w^illingly endure persecution, the loss
of all wordly gain or possessions, yea even life itself, and will
count it all joy to suffer and to endure persecution for His sake.
According to one's convictions as to the relative value of the
advantages to be derived from Christianity, will be the policy
he will pursue in presenting Christianity to the people, and
for the real evangelization of Korea I do not think we can
exaggerate the importance of this as one of the underlying,
basal principles — a conviction that the spiritual advantages are
pre-eminently the advantages to be placed in the forefront and
upon which the appeals to men are to be based. In order
to this, certain distinctions must be clearly made and kept

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 239

constantly in mind. Reformation is not redemption. Salvation
from sin, not mere moral reformation, is the essence of the
Gospel message. Civilization is not Christianity. Western ideas,
customs and inventions are not an essential part of Christianity.
In fact many Oriental ideas and customs conform more nearly
to the scriptural ideas than do some of the peculiar notions and
customs of the Western world and the introduction of much
that is considered a part of Western civilization is a hindrance
rather than a help to spiritual life. Our commission is to
introduce spiritual Christianity, not Western civilization.
Education is not regeneration. We are not called upon in the
evangelization of Korea to provide a secular education for the
heathen, but are commissioned to preach the Gospel to the
heathen and to establish the Church of Jesus Christ. We
might educate the heathen for centuries and yet fail to establish
the church or evangelize the nation, but we cannot establish the
church without having as a natural and necessary outgrowth
of the church a Christian education for its own people, a
powerful factor of the church in the evangelization of the
nation. I quote Mr. Speer as follows: "Let us not confuse
evangelization with the accessory and necessary results of
evangelization which flow from it.** Evangelization "plants
among communities of men forces that create new social
combinations. Missions are powerful to transform the face of
society, because they ignore the face of society and deal with it
at the heart. ' '

Fourth. — A strong faith, a victorious, enthusiastic faith in
God and His message. A faith in the power of the Gospel
itself to carry conviction to the heart of any man and to do for
the heathen all that it has done and now does for us. We need
to believe and act upon the belief that it can transform
character, lead to true repentance and hatred of sin, give
strength to resist temptation and overcome sin, uphold in a
consistent Christian life, and coi^fort and sustain in the midst of
persecution, trial, sorrow and loss. In the face of prominent
failures, in spite of keen disappointment in given cases,- — one
needs to grasp with a firm faith the fact that the Spirit of God
can and does show His own great power in the lives of others
and that through the exercise of faith these people can and do
reach the same heights of spiritual attainment and enter into
the same appreciation of spiritual truth which we do. Alas,
too many become like those of whom a friend in another

240 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

mission wrote me "some whom long years of waiting have
rather — not disconraged bnt disciplined to expect little." Such
a state of mind will not accomplish the evangelization of Korea.
We need a faith which expects great things, large results, and
knows that God will grant them. Faith is the evidence of
things not seen, and the Spirit-filled vision can, with the eye of
a buoyant, enthusiastic faith, see great results even though not
yet accomplished, and can gain the victory over these feelings
of depression and discouragement, and victoriously resist sub-
mission to the state of mind which expects but little. The
heart is taken out of one's w^ork, — it becomes mere routine and
drudgery, if faith has been undermined so that the note of
victory is lost. I believe in enthusiasm — in enthusiastic faith.
Enthusiasm may be more natural to some natures than to others,
but it is a tremendous element in one's influence and has a
power to communicate faith and zeal. How a real faith — a
real grasp of the Gospel message and a real appreciation of the
work of evangelization — can fail of enthusiasm, is a mystery.
There is often far more of unbelief in our minds than we are
aware of, and this unconscious and unrecognized unbelief will
often explain the failure to receive a blessing and to accomplish
results. ''He could not do many mighty works there because
of their unbelief" God delights to honor faith. He cannot
work mightily in the presence of unbelief. Our own lack of
faith shuts out the power of God.

Fifth. — The missionary's own spiritual life is one of the
most important basal considerations or factors in evangelization.
The missionary himself is the great factor in evangelization.
His character, his attitude towards truth and life, determine
very largely the place in evangelization which the church and
those under his influence take and the influence they exert. We
need to be men who will not compromise with sin, men who
will set up the scriptural standard which God has set up and
will not deviate one whit from that standard in their require-
ment. Whatever the peculiar conditions in heathendom we
have no authority for letting down the Divine standard on
moral questions. In dealing with ourselves we should "never
couple faith in the atonement of Christ with a feeling of security
in the violation of a single commandment " (Chalmers) and
however lenient and loving we may be in dealing with others
who have fallen into sin and come short of God's law, in their
discipline the failure to set up the one standard and to brand as

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 241

sin anything short of that standard is to iindermine the whole
fonndation of Christian morality and Christian character, and to
build a church on no spiritual foundation, weak and powerless
as a moral or spiritual force. Better far a Gideon's band of men
thoroughly determined to make no compromise with sin and to
strive for the highest and holiest attainments, than a whole host
of nominal Christians satisfied to come short, taught that they
may with impunity come short of the Divine standard — men
who have committed spiritual suicide by a deliberate giving up
of the law of God as the standard of Christian living. Dr. Dale
writing of evangelists says: ''What tells most is neither his
earnestness nor his perfect certainty of the truth of the Christian
Gospel, but the fact apparent to those who listen that his
certainty rests on his own direct and personal knowledge of the
eternal realities of which he is speaking." If God's Word is the
standard by which our own life is regulated and if to us the
spiritual blessings of reconciliation with God, our fellowship
with Jesus Christ, the assurance of eternal life, are our chief joy
and privilege and we daily experience them in our own lives,
then we can go forth to present in all faith these spiritual
privileges as the supreme gift of the Gospel unto a people whose
despair will be exchanged for hope, whose darkness will be
dispelled by light, whose fear and misery and degradation in sin
and iniquity will give way to love and joy, peace and righteous-
ness.

I place the above convictions foremost as the basal prin-
ciples upon which any methods of evangelization must be
founded, for I believe that the deep underlying convictions of the
missionary have more to do in evangelization than the mere
methods adopted. In fact the missionary's convictions deter-
mine the methods and policy not in their mere external form
and nomenclature but in their inner principles and their daily
outworking, their essence, their spirit, their life — that which
goes into and determines and is essentially the real policy and
method — the vital force of them which determines their influence
and results. I would therefore lay the greater emphasis upon
what has already been written rather than upon the following
suggested methods to be pursued in the evangelization of Korea.
I shall not attempt an exhaustive enumeration of methods and
I shall purposely omit some methods which are rightly and
successfully used, not attempting to be either inclusive or exclu-
sive but merely to mention a few methods adopted in our work

242 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

in Northern Korea which I believe to be the most important
factors in its development.

I think these factors have been

First. — The wide-spread preaching of the Gospel message
in its simplicity. There shonld be a perfectly frank, candid,
natural avowal of one's mission and a presentation of the Gospel
message to all, to every one with whom one can come in contact
as the most natural subject of conversation and interest, aiming
to make the Gospel known over as wide an extent of territory
as can possibly be covered from some strategic point as the
centre of operations. If the Gospel can be made the subject of
conversation among the people by the wide-spread dissemination
of tracts and the extended itineration of the missionary, a great
point has been gained. The methods adopted to secure this
will differ largely according to the personal preferences and the
disposition of the missionary. Some will adopt the formal
preaching to crowds upon the street or in the market place, or
the opening of street chapels, but a method better adapted to the
genius of the Korean people seems to me to be the constant,
daily natural and informal conversation with individuals and
small groups of people, in friendly intercourse along the wayside,
in the inns, on the street, in the shops, in the country village,
anywhere and everywhere, with the invitation to visit you in
your " sarang " for further conversation on this vital topic.
The wide-spread informal dissemination of the Gospel news will
result in bringing to you visitors from a wide territory, while
the "sarang*' work will give opportunity for hand to hand, face
to face, heart to heart dealing with individuals in a personal
earnest way with undisturbed, clear and pertinent presentation
of the claims of the Gospel, which has been most prolific in
genuine conversions. In Korea what takes place in your
''sarang" is soon heralded far and wide and often what is said
to an individual there will reach a far larger audience than what
is proclaimed to a crowd on the street. I would emphasize the
value of seeking to reach a wnde extent of territory in the initial
stages. In the early stages of work the conversion of ten men
from ten different sections will accomplish more than the con-
version of ten men in one section only, for each one of these
ten becomes the subject of conversation over a wide area and the
Gospel news is thereby spread abroad to a far larger audience ;
instead of one group of Christians being formed, one may soon
have ten places of w^orship each to be developed into a church.

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 243

Second. — The use of the Bible. Emphasis should be placed
upon the fact that your message is not yours but the message
of the living God, whose existence and the inspiration of whose
word are facts to be proclaimed, not propositions to be proved.
Rest your authority upon the Scriptures, the authoritative Word
of God, which claims man's obedience. Get men to read it —
read it to them and make it known as God^s message which
speaks for itself and needs no apology. Dr. Chalmers says :
*'We firmly believe that there is no one position of theology
which can be more strongly and more philosophically sustained
than the self-evidencing power of the Bible.'* Keep oneself
in the background, one's own knowledge and wisdom and
superior powers of argumentation and discourse, and keep in the
forefront the Word of God, which is the supernatural agency
of the Spirit of God for reaching the hearts of men with
God's authoritative claim upon them. By far the most efficient
means for the evangelization of men is the Bible itself, and our
efforts should be to get it into the hands of men, to arouse
in them a desire to read it, to constantly appeal to it as the
source of our authoritative message and as containing God's own
message to men for their welfare and happiness and as being of
inestimable importance to them. I believe in the use of tracts,
but primarily as a means of explaining the Scriptures and
to lead to a study of the Scriptures. To this end I should
advocate the use of such tracts as '*The Nevius' Catechism,"
''Discourse on Salvation," " The Two Friends, " " The Guide
to Heaven," and Mrs. Jones' most helpful primer for those who
cannot yet read the Korean character. These, however, are
powerful, because they are a simple presentation of fundamental
Scripture truths and turn the attention of the people to the
Bible itself

Third. — The Catechumenate. Particularly in the initial
stages of work and for the conservation of the results of one's
preaching and teaching, I look upon the public reception of
catechumens as one of the most eflfective methods and one of far
reaching influence. Just as soon as a man gives evidence of a
knowledge of sin, of a desire to worship God, and of an accept-
ance of Christ as his Saviour from sin, he should be encouraged
to make a public confession of sin, of faith in Christ, and of his
intention to lead a Christian life. The object of it is three-fold :
first, it assists a man to reach a decision, and the very decision
is a means of strengthening him, helping him to cut loose from

244 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

his past life and ideas by holding before him a definite step to
be taken ; second, it is a formal recognition of his desire to be a
Christian and an enrolling of him in a class for instruction so that
he becomes connected with the church in a way that necessitates
some provision for his systematic instruction and oversight ;
third, it is a means of witness bearing to others and puts him in
the position of at once making known to others the fact that he
has identified himself with Christianity. Reception into the
catechumenate is an extension of the hand of Christian fellow-
ship, encouraging one in his first formed intentions to renounce
heathenism and accept Christ. I look upon it as more particu-
larly valuable as an agency in the early stages of work furnishing
a means of recognition and organization of first converts before
the church with its baptized membership and fuller organization
becomes the more prominent exponent of Christianity. The
more systematic and thorough the Biblical instruction of the
catechumenate, the more valuable will this factor prove in
evangelization.

Fourth. — The infusion of an enthusiastic evangelistic spirit
into the first converts and continuously into the whole church.
The importance of this can scarcely be exaggerated, and it is
worth our while to wisely plan to develop this and to avoid the
development of the opposite spirit of service where mercenary
motives develop apparent evangelistic zeal. For this reason the
employment of men and women to preach in the early stages of
work, and the use of much money in initiating work of any
kind, is to be deprecated, for thereby people are attracted by an
unintentional appeal to mercenary motives to make profession
of Christianity. The inculcation and development of an over-
whelming desire to make known to others the message of
salvation which brings peace and joy with the sense of forgive-
ness and reconciliation with God, simply from an experience of
the same in one's own heart, will do more than any other one
thing for the wide-spread evangelization of Korea. When this
spirit of voluntary, joyful, enthusiastic propagation of the truth
has become characteristic of the early converts and the church,
the employment of men proportionately with the development
of the church will not be a hindrance but a help to evangeliza-
tion. I am satisfied, however, that this spirit can be secured only
through the deep convictions of the missionary, working out in
his own life this same enthusiastic evangelistic spirit, so that by
example rather than by exhortation he infuses this spirit into

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 245

the first converts who come into closest contact with liim,
reading and knowing his inner real self most clearly. Real
enthusiasm begets enthusiasm ; conviction begets conviction.
A man all on fire with and dominated by this spirit is a
tremendous power, and the cumulative force of a whole church
of such men is more irresistible than an avalanche. A church
constantly at work seeking to convert men — peddlers carrying
books and preaching as they travel selling their wares,
merchants and inn-keepers talking to customers and guests,
travellers along, the roads and on the ferries telling of Jesus and
His salvation, women going to the fields, drawing water at the
well, washing clothes at the brooks, or visiting in heathen
homes, all talking of the Gospel and what it has done for them
is a method of evangelization than which none is more power-
ful. To Yi Yeng En — now with the Lord — I ascribe the greatest
influence in the development of this spirit in our Northern
work. He never allowed a man to pass the examination for
admission to the catechumenate or the church without impress-
ing upon him this as his first duty and privilege as a Christian.
From him came the practice of questioning the advisability of
admitting to the church any one who had not first made known
to his family and neighbors what great things the Lord had
done for him. I do not hesitate to place this as the foremost
factor in the wide-spread development of our work in Northern
Korea.

Fifth. — Bible Study Training Classes. For the develop-
ment of the church as the great evangelistic agency I know
of nothing aside from the Sabbath services for Bible study and
worship, more perfectly adapted to the conditions in Korea
than the system of Bible study training classes which has already
become such a great factor in our work. They are adapted to
the genius of the Korean people and fit in admirably with their
methods of life and study. As explanatory of these classes I
quote from an article prepared by Mr. Hunt, of Pyeng-yang, as
follows : "The education of the whole church, all its member-
ship, young and old, literate and illiterate, is being undertaken
systematically and largely by training classes in which the text-
book is the Bible. Some of these are representative in character;
the attendance coming from every part of the field ; others are
local, meant only for the members of a particular group. Some
are attended only by men, others only by women, but in most of
the country classes both men and women are taught, though in

246 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

separate divisions. Sometimes these classes are taught entirely
by the missionaries or by the missionary and several helpers, but
more often by the helper alone. Bible study is the object of the
class, but prayer, conferences and practical evangelistic effort are
prominent parts of the work. . . . The Christians have learned
that it is only right to put aside their occupations for several
weeks each year for the special study of the Word of God. . . .
This method is honoring to God's Word and teaches all the
authority of God in their lives. His word, rather than that
of the helper or the missionary, early becomes the Christian's
rule of faith and practice. This method of education tends to
bring about a mutual understanding between the rank and file,
and the leaders, helpers and missionaries, so unifying the young
church that it presents a solid front and is made more of a
power in the midst of heathenism. The surest way to make
a distinction between the church and the world is to set men
to study the Bible and to preach its truths. This system is
cumulative in its results. ... It makes of the church an army
skilled in the use of God's Word. Among the many advantages
of these classes is that they afford an occasion to develop qualities
of true leadership. Opportunities for preliminary training and
trial as well as for more careful selection are almost without
end. ' ' To this I would add that the classes cannot be begun
too soon, for in their essential features they are applicable alike
to inquirers and catechumens, church members, leaders, helpers,
evangelists, and the ministry itself, to women and children as
well as to men, to the ignorant, even those unable to read
as well as to the educated scholars. The whole church is
made to feel the result of these classes, and from them the men
go forth with an enthusiasm and an evangelistic zeal coupled
with a knowledge of the Scriptures which enable them to
become intelligent as well as zealous heralds of the Gospel
message.

Sixth. — The development of trained helpers, evangelists
and ministers. This is an integral part of evangelistic work.
Here is specifically the province of mission educational work
which, I believe, should be a development from within the
church, a result of, and indissolubly connected with, the evangel-
istic work ; it in turn becoming one of the powerful factors in
producing a geometrically progressive advance in evangelization.
It is only a perversion of educational work which is brought
into an antagonistic relation to evangelistic work. Since the

1906.] Policy and Methods for the Evangelization of Korea. 247

complete evangelization of any land will be effected only
through the agency of native evangelists and pastors, the
development and training of these becomes, with the establish-
ment and growth of the church, an increasingly important
phase of evangelistic work. The foreign missionary is the
important agency in the initial stages of evangelization for the
foundation and establishment of the church, but the native
church itself must become the agency for the complete evangel-
lization of the nation, and from the church should come the
institutions and the men which are to be the permanent factors.
In the development of these leaders we need to provide for the
training of two classes of men. In Korea, for years to come,
the bulk of the work of leading the church must be done by
men who show gifts for such work but who cannot be given
the thorough preparation for the ministry which is the result
of a common and high school, a collegiate and seminary
education. We want and must have some such men, but
all experience shows that the number of such men is never
equal to the demand, not even in the church at home with
its elaborate system of collegiate and theological education.
We must make provision for this systematic and thorough
theological instruction for the training of a ministry, but
we must also in the meantime and for years to come depend
even more largely upon a class of men taken from among the
more mature Christians who can be taken through a course of
instruction less absorbing of time and not too exhaustive of the
mental and physical strength of the men. Since the preparation
of most of this paper there has come into my hands an article
written by our beloved secretary. Dr. F. F. Ellin wood, whose
counsel and guidance have been such helpful features in the
establishment and development of mission work in Korea, and
who to-day, in America, rejoices with us over the results of the
work of the Spirit of God in Korea these twenty years. It is
particularly appropriate that I should close this paper by quoting
from that acticle that which exjf^esses better than I can my
own convictions on this factor in evangelization as follows :
*'I have spoken of individual training, but each mission should
at an early day make provision for a more systematic and
thorough ministerial education. ... I urge this as a means
to the ultimate end of evangelization. I am more and more
persuaded as the years go by that the educational work on our
mission fields should be directed mainly to this specific end,

248 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

that the great, spiritual aim, namely of the conversion of men,
should uniformly and always take the lead. An excellent plan
is now found in many missions of forming normal classes for
Bible study to which the field workers are called for a limited
time during the season less favorable for itineration. Such
periods of study are valuable not only for the instruction given,
but for the opportunity of gaining a spiritual uplift for both the
missionary and his helpers. I would gladly see a normal
department connected with our most thoroughly established
missionary colleges, so that while some students gain an
advanced preparation, others may be fitted for immediate
work. ... As relating to the ordinary missionary boarding-
school on the one hand and the secular college on the other,
there should be greater prominence given to the training of
preachers and religious helpers. ... I am not sure, but it
would be better economy of our resources, always too small,
to give greater comparative attention to an older class of pupils,
carefully selected with reference to their intellectual ability and
spiritual qualifications for evangelists. ... I am persuaded
that the great volume of our educational work should be directed
toward the simple preaching of the Gospel, and to the training
of men by short courses for that purpose. The hope we
entertain for the ingathering of tens and hundreds of thousands
in the near future depends mainly, I believe, upon the enlarge-
ment of our native ministry." Then follow these words,
weighty with the spirit of exhortation to us to whom has been
committed the work of the evangelization of Korea. *'The
Great Commission of our I^ord pointed directly and in plain
terms to the co-temporary work of evangelization as the great
errand of the church. The disciples were not taught to spend
their time in preliminary operations looking to evangelization
by others after their work was done. The word was, ' Go and
teach all nations.' . . . The command of Christ was primarily
to those of His own age, and He gave them a large task to
perform, surely. That command reiterates itself with each
new generation and the misson or Board or the church at
large is culpably remiss if willingly it occupies itself only
with preliminary work instead of hastening to the rescue
of the millions who know not the Gospel and with whom it
will soon be too late. ' '

1906.] Our Relations with the Chinese. 249

Our Relations with the Chinese.

BY REV. J. SADLER, L. M. S. , AMOY.

[On page 225 of our April issue we promised to print in this number, in
connection with the above subject, the views of a senior missionary in one of
the outports, where the relations between Chinese and foreigners have recently
been discussed. As IVIr. Sadler's contribution had frequent references to the
opinions and conduct of some who have little likelihood of seeing this journal
we have only printed extracts. — Ed. Recorder.]

IT has been impressed on me that there is need to earnestly
keep up suggestions as to the duty of all foreigners to
cultivate consideration for the Chinese. I remember the
extraordinary caution practised by the best missionaries forty years
ago. The same caution is still needed ; indeed is there not more
cause than ever to study the conditions in which we live ? [The
writer here indicates dangerous complications from treatment of
Chinese by foreigners — sometimes rough, sometimes thoughtless,
— but along lines on which the missionary is little likely to err.]

Hot-blooded students who become inflamed in the countries
they visit have their faults. Surely the greater care is needed
in dealing with them. Even men of the same race have risen
with terrible effect against oppressors. What may be expected
amid the misunderstandings which must exist amongst men of
widely different races. "Offences will come, but woe to that
man by whom the offence cometh.'*

The Chinese are not naturally warlike. They hold that
moral force is better than brute force. Yet brute force is
engendered very quickly. Is there never any trouble in Western
lands when students are lawless ? A man who has studied the
Chinese carefully maintains that he does not find the Chinese
different from foreigners in the main tendencies of human nature.
Is it not folly to think that " the natives are without feeling ? '*
Ask the men who have done great things for the good of this
people ; will they say there is no power of response amongst
Chinese? You attend a meeting where the Celestials come
together to assert their rights. Yt)u say, ' ' You will give them
fits.'* But before two days are over, you sing a different song !
But are not tbe people wild in their spirit of rebellion ? Do
they not go mad in wanting reform all of a sudden ? In
trade do they not go to extremes in wanting to be rid of
foreigners and their goods? Are they not lawless in their
treatment of men and women who are devoted to seeking
their good ? W^ell, what then ? Was there never an Emperor

250 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

who solemnly tried to save his people from the opium traffic ?
Are not missionaries decried by many of their own countrymen
and so exposed to bad treatment, such fellow-countrymen not
perceiving that the real object of the Chinese is to expel all
foreigners and to begin with those most exposed ? Anglo-
Saxons believe in fairness above all things. Why not practise
it toward the innocent ? Representatives of the Prince of Peace
often avoid resisting evil. Is this a reason for supposing that
they are not as sensitive as those who affect a supercilious
attitude ? Granted that evangelists have their faults. They
are human, and Jminaiuim est errare. They become so involved
in native life as to suffer depression at times. Why should those
who are happier in their lot not exercise a little of the altruism
so loudly boasted ?

A great Western leader has said, "the one need is of more
sympathy both in China and India.'* The famous ex-Viceroy
seemed to work on this line. Hence the admiration for him.
Win the Chinaman, and he will welcome any truth you may
have to give him. Study native excellencies and start from
these. Should we not remember the words of a certain writer
that the stern, cold, individualism of certain ruling races is
enough to freeze any soul ? Whereas a sunny good temper,
charity, and kind treatment, will thaw and inspire men. Suppose
that we are disgusted with the spirit of anarchy and rebellion
cultivated so widely. Can we do nothing to counteract such a
baleful spirit, not only for the sake of Chinese but for our own
safety? Said a thoughtful Chinese, "you need not fear the
Yellow Peril in Europe and America ; what you should fear is,
that there will certainly be trouble in China for Europeans and
Americans if these do not cultivate more considerateness. " There
are great lessons to be learned from past experiences. Witness
the magnificent Inland Mission and examine how it is that this
Mission has made its way in the high places of the field. Hear
the veteran Griffith John in his pleading, " We should love the
Chinese. '* If we are called to blame, let it be as far as possible
on moral lines. It is a moral basis for all progress that China
needs. Thank God for all the good foreigners have been enabled
to do in this country by hospitals, schools, literature, especially
newspapers, yes, and by the Imperial Maritime Customs, trade,
etc. We have abundant encouragement to remember that a
thousand times more good may be done if only we are willing.
Think of the Chinese filial piety, reverence for superiors,

1906.] Our Relations with the Chinese. 251

earnestness in study and many, many good traits. There is no
need to despair. In their heart of hearts the people know what
is good and are prepared to appreciate it. There is a thirst for
knowledge. **They that be wise shall shine as the firmament
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever." *'For unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall be much required.''

An Experience and a Suggestion.

A letter has reached me from North inland China, whereby I
gather that the matters of concern dealt with in my first paper on
the above subject are regarded as applicable to China generally.
May I therefore explain the effort being made here. If similar effort
can be made elsewhere, good may be done. A short time ago a
notice was issued here in Amoy as follows : —

Notice.

A short paper will be read at the Club Theatre, Kulangsu, on Friday
evening, the 2ud March, at 5.30 p.m., on the following subjects :

A. "The new rise of patriotic, or so-called 'Nationalist' sentiment
among the Chinese " and

B. "The anti-foreign feeling now prevalent in China and the respon-
sibility of Europeans, especially missionaries, in connection therewith."

Discussion of the address, and the opinions expressed, is invited.

It is most earnestly pointed out to all who care to attend that TRMPKRATH,
reasonable argument is an incentive of fruitful thought and profitable action.
But heated and intemperate language obscures the real points at issue ; at
the best can lead to no practical result, and indeed usually does more harm
than good.

It is earnestly hoped that speakers during the discussion on the address
shall endeavour to express themselves with courtesy and moderation — to keep
TO THE POINT and to be as brief as possible.

The said meeting was held, some objection being made to the
explicit wording as to temperateness of speech. Proof was afforded
as to the need, for an actual attempt was made at organised effort to
prevent the meeting, for fear of making trouble. The result of the
meeting was, on the whole, satisfactory. Some, however, argued that
the papers did not stick to the text. The fact is, to many it seems
that the nationalist spirit shows decided antipathy to foreigners and
specially missionary foreigners. So the leading paper, with a
dialectic purpose, raised the points of objection to missionaries and
put them strongly to call out discussion. In many ways the reader
of said paper showed his strong ^-ersion to anti-missionary pro-
paganda. Afterwards another meeting was called.

Before this second meeting an earnest discussion was had with
a well-known Chinese gentleman, magistrate of Kwangtung and
President of the Amoy Anti-foot-binding Society. He earnestly
argues for starting commissions in various places to counteract
the lawlessness and spirit of rebellion abroad in so many
quarters. A commission should be formed of leading Chinese and
Westerners, specially missionaries. When trouble arises between
non-Christians and Christians the matter should be referred to this

252 The Chinese Recorder. [May>

commission. Effort should be made to prevent the need of a formal
lawsuit with its- attendant evils. Such a commission was planned
long ago, but Roman Catholic friends opposed. Now it is felt that
we must act apart from them if needful.

The second meeting was used to prove that foreigners in
China had in many ways rendered service, and that this was
specially true of missionaries. It was shown that the talk started
by a comparative few in high places, as to foreigners being harmful,
was really a pretext to divert attention from the breach of confidence
which exists between the people and many of their rulers. This
was shown to be a most serious matter, and at the root of untold
mischief. It is not meant that such criticism applies to the Emperor.
He is held to be a father of his people, and wishing their wellbeing
in every way.

There was much concern expressed as to misunderstandings
between merchants and missionaries. Plans are being matured for
removing these. In the meantime, broad views, not merely indivi-
dual cases, are taken of the fact that Westerners are not in the main
responsible for troubles in China. Mistakes have been made in
each department of service. These ought to be more and more
rectified ; and we all, i.e., different classes of foreigners, as well as
foreigners and Chinese, need to see the points on which we agree and
from which we can harmoniously co-operate. There are necessarily
varieties of opinion on minor matters. These need not give trouble.
Further, sympathy should be cultivated by all means, and self-
denial, if only we may be of service. There is more chance of
mutual service than ever before. By sincere and frank fellowship,
great ends may be gained.

Notes on the Situation in Manchuria.

BY REV. JAMES W. INGLIS.

THE history of missions in Manchuria since 1900 is different
from that of missions in any other province of China in
that we have been almost continually under military
government, and this in many ways has delayed our recovery
from the blow of the Boxer outbreak.

In what follows I confine myself to the province of Feng-
tien, as in Kirin Province the war has been more remote and the
restrictions on mission work comparatively slight.

The Boxer movement brought about as one result a
distinct line of demarcation between the church and outsiders.
Formerly there were a great number more or less well affected
to us, and with a greater or less degree of understanding of the
Gospel message. These people were now afraid to identify

1906.] Notes on the Situation in Manchuria. 253

themselves with us, and for a long time there were no new
inquirers willing to come forward. At the same time the
Christians in many places were lukewarm and inclined to
blame the Mission for involving them in loss of property.
The first task before us then was to revive the spiritual state
of the native church.

A peculiarity of the situation in Manchuria is that converts
are scattered over a very wide area, and many of the chapels or
Christian communities are remote from the Mission centres ;
hence the work cannot be supervised properly without a great
amount of travelling. The military situation, however, has
hindered us very much in this respect ; during the period of
Russian occupation we were liable to be stopped or arrested in
some districts ; in my own out-field there was intermittent
warfare between the Russians and the brigands till the summer
of 1902, and the door was only open for a year and a half, when
it was again closed by the outbreak of war. The war of course
put a stop to all travel, and even our native helpers were
prevented to a large extent from moving about.

The effect of the war has been both good and bad. The
evil results are where large districts have been left uncared for,
chapels destroyed or occupied as barracks, so that the Christians
could not meet for worship. Other inconveniences are the high
price of living, so that our agents cannot live on their pay, and
the shifting of population, so that many of our people cannot
be traced.

On the other hand good has come out of the war through
the refugee work, and we may consider that this has undone
the evil in 1900, and has produced a counter-wave of feeling in
our favour. At one time in Moukden there were 48,000 refugees
fed from the government granaries, and of these 10,000 were
connected with the refuges of the Red Cross Society, which
were superintended by missionaries. These people have now
returned to their homes, and offer a most hopeful field for
evangelisation. •

As to the more remote districts the war has given us an
opportunity of seeing how well they could do without the
foreigner. There is nothing more surprising than the way in
which Christianity seems to survive under the most adverse
conditions ; nien who cannot read, and have a very rudimentary
knowledge, cut off for years from church privileges, and yet
following steadily the dim light they possess. It would seem

254 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

as if the parallel in the natural world holds good : just as the
lower organisms can survive injuries that would destroy the
more developed organism, so the religion of the less highly
developed Christian communities can survive the loss of the
ordinary means of grace as known to the organized church body.

Before leaving Manchuria I paid a visit to my out-stations,
a journey which had been promised in February, 1904. I got
to the rear of what had been the Russian position on their
extreme left, four days journey east of the railway line. I found
that while along the front matters had stood still in the work of
the church, in the rear there had been a marked advance.

The most interesting point was the town of ^ |^ ij|. The
first baptisms here were in 1895. Before I left on furlough in
1899 I discovered that the whole work had been established on
a false basis, the preacher had used his position to extort bad
debts on behalf of the Christian community (mostly unbaptized
adherents), taking a small commission for himself at the same
time. After this one of our most trustworthy and best instructed
men was put in charge, and the result is remarkable. The bad
element in the membership has either been driven away or the
weak have themselves been changed, and openly avow that the
church is now on new ground, and that the former practices are
now known no more. There is no doubt that what shocks us
in the life of so many of these new disciples does not appear in
the same light to the Chinese mind ; it is but the ordinary way
of the country, and like a fire that burns itself clear of smoke,
the inner force of Christian teaching will ultimately work off
these impure elements.

On my arrival then in this town I found a gathering of
over a hundred, a large compound owned by the native church,
and arrangements all made for the celebration of the commun-
ion on Sunday and baptisms of a score of inquirers the same
evening. The severance of contact with the foreigner for over
two years had left their spiritual life unharmed.

As to the general outlook in Manchuria it is difficult
10 speak with any certainty. The governing and literary
classes are now more disposed to cultivate our friendship,
and there is much cordiality towards us on all hands. It is
generally felt, however, that the condition of the native
church leaves much to be desired, and that a higher standard
of spiritual life must be aimed at if we are to make use of the
opportunity now given us.

1906.]

Church Praise Department.

255

Church Praise Department.

This hymn and tune is from the hymn book for children,
just published by Rev. F. W. Bailer. Copies on Chinese paper
are sold at 7 cents, and on foreign paper, stiff boards, at 20 cents.
A new supply of the latter are so bound as to open flat.

7.7,7.7,7.3,

Lux Prima.

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256 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

The Student Volunteer Convention, Nashville, Tenn.,
February 28th to March 4th, 1906.

BY REV. G. F. FITCH, D.D.

THE impressions left upon the minds of those who were privi-
leged to attend the recent Student Volunteer Convention at
Nashville, Tennessee, will long abide with them as most
delightful and profitable memories. Over three thousand students
and nearly three hundred professors, representing some seven hun-
dred institutions, from nearly all parts of the United States east of
the Rocky Mountains and from Canada, gathered day by day in the
great Auditorium, seating some five thousand people, from nine-
thirty to twelve a.m., and from eight to ten in the evening, besides
"sectional meetings" in the different churches each afternoon,
quietly, almost solemnly, with no apparent abatement of interest
from first to last. One hundred and forty-four missionaries from
twenty-six mission fields, one hundred and forty-nine representives
of missionary societies or agencies, and others, occupied the plat-
form. And sitting upon the platform and looking out over the vast
audience composed of the thousands of young men and women, the
choicest of the land, one could but be deeply impressed, yes thrilled
with the thought of the future possibilities to missions involved in
such a movement.

The preparations for the conduct of so great a Convention, and
the entertainment (free) of so great a number of guests, must have
been a stupendous task ; but it seems to have been accomplished with
marvellous order and precision, so that there was scarce a hitch
perceptible, and even if any one was temporarily inconvenienced, his
interests were so soon looked after and in such a kindly manner that
it was soon forgotten in the cordial welcome and delightful enter-
tainment which is characteristic of the Southern home. Nashville
was certainly put to a severe test, the number of visitors having
been greater than was expected ; but the good people responded
nobly, and there was no lack. Your scribe and son were enter-
tained at the home of Dr. W. R. Ivambuth, now Secretary of the
Methodist Board, South, but formerly a co-laborer in the city of
Soochow. His heart is still as warm as ever for China, and nothing
but imperative reasons prevent him from again going to the land of
his birth. and love. But as it is he is able to do a grand work for China.
It w^as most delightful to meet so many missionaries from China —
nearly forty, I think, in all — and to come on some of them so
unexpectedly. Next to that, perhaps, was the joy of meeting so
many missionaries from other lands, some of whom one had heard
of but never met.

Among the prominent speakers were such men as Sir Mortimer
Durand, the British Ambassador to Washington ; and Hon. John W.
Foster, formerly Secretary of State in the U. S. and erstwhile
adviser to the Chinese government, a striking figure with his white
hair and beard. The only applause during the Convention was
that which broke out spontaneously when he remarked that he

1906.] The Student Volunteer Convention, Nashville, Tenn. 257

had come to celebrate his 70th birthda}-. Otherwise applause was
contrary to the rules of the Convention, and the chairman, Mr.
Mott, enforced them rigidly.

Among the graceful things said by Mr. Foster were the follow-
ing in regard to some of the early missionaries to China : —

In 1844 Hon, Caleb Gushing was sent to China to establish our first
diplomatic intercourse with that empire. He was escorted in great state by a
squadron of the American Navy. But he was utterly powerless to accomplish
the great object our Government had in view till he ob:ained at Canton the
services of Dr. Peter Parker, a medical missionary, and Rev. Dr. Bridgman,
an accomplished Chinese scholar, both of the American Board of Missions.
These two gentlemen were made Secretaries of the Embassy, and through them
the negotiation with the Chinese plenipotentiaries were wholly carried on to
successful completion. IVlr. Cushing returned to America to receive the
plaudits of his countrymen for an achievement due in large measure to the
humble missionaries. Dr. Parker became so useful to the Government that for
several years he acted as chargd of the legation and later became the Minister
of the United States to China.

One of the best known of Americans in China was Dr. S. Wells Williams.
He mastered that most difficult language, and came to be recognized as the
first scholar and linguist of all the foreign residents. When our Government
determined to force an entrance into Japan, which had been hermetically
closed against all foreigners for centuries, Commodore Perry was dispatched
with a formidable fleet, and both America and Europe were laid under tribute
to furnish men of learning and fitness to make the expedition a success. But
before Commodore Perry could venture on the first diplomatic step in his work,
he had to repair with his fleet to Canton to take on board Dr. Williams as his
interpreter and adviser ; and the narrative which the Commodore has left of
his expedition shows that in securing intercourse with the authorities and in
the details of treaty negotiations, Dr. Williams was his main support, and to
him more than to any other person was the Commodore indebted for the
complete success of his expedition, which has brought so much fame to
American diplomacy and which has given to the United States such promi-
nence in the affairs of the Far East.

When the allied British and French fleets went to Tientsin in 1858 to
exact treaties from China, the American Minister took with him Dr. Williams
as his counselor and interpreter, and he played a very important part in those
negotiations. The Minister reported to liis Government : *' I could not but
for this aid have advanced a step in discharge of my duties." Years afterwards,
when Dr. Williams was leaving China to return to America to spend the evening
of his life, the Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, wrote him : " Above all, the
Christian world will not forget that to you more than to any other man is due
the insertion in our treaty with China of the liberal provision for the toleration
of the Christian religion." For many years after that event the doctor con-
tinued as the trusted adviser of our Government in all Chinese questions.

Although over three thousand student representatives w^ere
present, not all of these were Volunteers. Some were delegates
appointed by Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., in the hope that such
might be so influenced by the Convention as that they would be
induced to volunteer afterw^ards. Ope could but be struck with the
conduct of these young men, upon the streets and on the tramways.
There w^as never any boisterousness, almost no hilarity, one might
say, and I was particularly struck with the utter absence, so far as I
observed, of the use of tobacco by any of the young men of the
Convention.

Among the very enjoyable features of the Convention w^as the
singing by a tnale quartette. It was so thoroughly devotional and
always in harmony with the spirit of the theme of the session. At
times it was so beautifully impressive that one could scarce refrain
from weeping, and yet one could scarcely say why.

258 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

Of vital interest to the future work of the Student Volunteer
Movement was the response to the call for subscriptions for funds
with which to carry on the work during the following four years, or
until the next Convention. In answer to a call made by the chairman,
during an evening session, some ninety thousand dollars were pledg-
ed, a remarkable sum, and yet one which will probably be still some-
what increased, and all of which will be needed. One realized that
other of God's stewards than the students were present. I myself
noted at least two wealthy laymen from the East, who are pouring
out their wealth annually by tens of thousands of dollars for the
cause of missions.

Of course it is not to be expected that all of these young men
and women will become missionaries, though doubtless many of
them will ; but it is difficult to see how any young man or young
woman could attend such a Convention as this and not receive
impressions of the importance and blessedness of mission work which
should be lifelong, and productive of great good in whatever pro-
fession he or she might be called.

As this Convention was a great advance upon all previous
Conventions, so the next one, to be held in four years from this,
will doubtless be as much greater than this as this was greater than
the previous one ; it is interesting to think to what dimensions this
work is destined to grow. It certainly is a great work, and one
fraught with untold possibilities to the future of mission work
throughout the world.

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor.

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

The Educational Outlook in Wuchang.
III.

BY REV. ARNOLD FOSTER.
(Co7ichided from p, 216^ April number.)

SCHOOLS for higher and Christian education, inspired by
such thoughts as I have just quoted, are needed at all the
great centres of missionary work in China, and if worthily
and vigorously supported, must mightily influence the future of
the empire. But I am deeply convinced that over and above all
such efforts at a widespread diffusion of Christian education we
need some one or more centres of learning, and to begin with

f

1906.] Educational Department. 259

we must rigidly confine our efforts to one, which shall hold a
unique position and exercise a unique influence on all smaller
seats of learning, such as colleges and schools scattered through-
out the eighteen provinces, as well as on Chinese ideas
and plans of education. I have already assigned reasons for
thinking that Wuchang, where mandarin, the lingua franca of
four-fifths of China is spoken, is the first place at which such a
seat of learning would naturally find its location.

The space at my disposal requires that I should confine
myself to emphasizing only some of the more important aspects
of this question, and I must leave much that I think relevant
to its discussion for the present unsaid.

I. If I write as one who has insuflficient knowledge of the
great and famous universities and educational institutions of
Germany and America, my German and American readers will,
I am sure, acquit me of any desire to vaunt English institutions
to the ignoring of those of other nations. Much of what I have
to say on the first topic with which I propose to deal — the
immense superiority in point of influence wielded by a great and
central seat of learning over that wielded by a number of
smaller and scattered ones will, I am sure, commend itself as
entirely to students from German universities or from Yale and
Harvard as to sons of Oxford or of Cambridge.

As for the English university system by which a number
of colleges, to the extent of about twenty or more, are all
clustered together at comparatively short distances around one
centre and united by a thousand ties, social and other, in one
university has, in my opinion, advantages which are not equalled
by the Scotch system or any other in which the distinctive college
influence is wanting. I shall try to show that it is this college
system that would be specially in accordance with the present
and future needs of the highest education in China.

It requires, I think, but little consideration to see that the
stimulus to the cause of learning arising from the gathering
together in one place of some of the greatest teachers in a nation,
many of them representing different branches of knowledge,
cannot possibly be felt equally strongly where this factor is
wanting. Again, the stimulus to the student of being always in
contact with competitors whom he cannot afford to think lightly
of, is of the highest educational value. A clever student passing
triumphantly through a small school of learning — -facile princeps
among his peers in almost every branch of study through which

260 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

the classes have been conducted together, and feeling perhaps in
some cases that he has about exhausted all his teachers have to
teach him, — is apt to go out into the world of life from that
smaller sphere of experience imagining that his knowledge is
far more exhaustive than it is, and that he is much farther in
advance of students of his age than he is, and thus in his case
there are developed habits of self-complacency which are both
morally and intellectually injurious to him and which may tend
greatly, throughout the rest of his life, to hinder his farther
advance along the paths of wisdom and knowledge, as well as
to dwarf his sense of dependence on the knowledge of others and
the resources of others, as also to limit his ability to command
respect amongst the intellectual superiors with whom he may
meet in after life. No man passes out from a great seat of
learning such as Oxford or Cambridge with any such sense
of all-round superiority to his fellow-students as that. If a
brilliant undergraduate has easily picked off all the chief prizes
for the year in his college, he has found far greater difficulty in
carrying away any single coveted prize in the 2i7tiversity. If
he feels, as he finishes his course, that he has about exhausted
the stores of information and of learning that his college lecturer
has at his disposal, he is bound to feel himself still a child at
the feet of some great giants in the university who each in their
own department either as university professors or some other
way may have a world-wide reputation for scholarship. The
spirit of self-sufficiency amongst students is apt to receive a
severe shock when it manifests itself in a large university. It is
told of a famous Greek scholar at Cambridge, who took his
degree in the first half of last century, and who throughout his
undergraduate course had been generally supposed to be far
away the most proficient classical student of his year at Cam-
bridge, that he gained along with his degree a lesson of humility,
of which he stood much in need. It is the custom at Cambridge,
when the honour lists are read out, for men who have a
reasonable expectation of being anywhere near the top to keep
away from the function and to ask a friend to go in their stead
and to bring them immediately the longed-for news. The
scholar in question wailed in his room till his friend returned
with the names of those who had earned the highest places, and
then, confident of his own easy ' walk over ' as head of the list
enquired, ' Well, and who is second ? ' ' Yoit are,' was the reply.
A dark horse had won the race and an admittedly brilliant and

1906.] Educational Department. 261

learned student had been taught that in Cambridge there was
a greater than he even in his own special department, and in
the race of life that one did not lose his first place. We need in
China a Christian seat of learning to which all the picked
scholars from all Christian colleges in China can come up and
stimulate one another by a keen intellectual competition such as
they have never known before, receiving at the same time
teaching from the picked teachers and professors who would
naturally gravitate to such a centre in preference to taking
appointments in smaller schools where their opportunities of
giving their best to their students would be less. At some of
the colleges in Oxford it would be useless for any one to try and
pass the entrance examination unless he was already more than
qualified at once to take the ordinary degree given by the
university. To get a scholarship at such a college he would
need to be already fit to pass the university examination for
honours. He would still, however, need to work hard for four
years in his college in order to get the highest honours the
university bestows. If Christianity is to represent knowledge
and the highest learning in China, as it does in Europe and
America, it becomes us nozv to look ahead and with '* con-
secrated forethought" to claim for Christ the best. Oxford and
Cambridge have not come to their present position in a
generation, in a century, or even in five centuries, and we shall
not any of us live to see the full results of any effort we may
make now to assure to Christian learning its true place in China,
but by faith we shall be assured of them if we are first fully
assured in our own minds that we are moving in obedience to
our Master's will.

I have spoken thus far of picked scholars, brilliant students
and the highest results of learning. I need not say that neither
at Cambridge nor anywhere else are the bulk of the students
working, or able to work, at this high level, though it is
only such who are able to support themselves entirely by
scholarships and prizes. But it ^ould be impossible to over-
estimate the uplifting effect of the intellectual atmosphere
of a great university even on men of poor ability and deficient
earlier training. Many a student who passes out with only an
ordinary degree has come, during his undergraduate course,
under the personal influence of great men which has largely
moulded his subsequent life and taught him to know the
difference between depth and shallowness, between learning and

262 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

mere display. On nobody who is not in himself a fool, can
university teaching and opportunities be really wasted or prove
worthless.

2. I must say something now as to the college system and
its special advantages in view of the conditions under which
our work has to be carried on. For the sake of those who are
not familiar with the English university system I quote the
following from the most recent Cambridge calendar that I have
access to. "The University of Cambridge is a society of
students in all and every of the liberal arts and sciences,
incorporated by the name of ' The Chancellor^ Masters^ and
Scholars of the University of Cajnbridge.^ This commonwealth
is a union of seventeen colleges or societies, devoted to the
study of learning and knowledge, and for the better service of
the Church and State. . . . Each college is a body corporate
bound by its own statutes; but is likewise controlled by the
paramount laws of the university. . . . Each of the seventeen
colleges, or departments in this literary republic, furnishes
members both for the executive and for the legislative branch
of its government.*' I need not describe at length the con-
stitution of the university, the way in which the different
courses of education are prescribed and the examiners appointed,
or the various offices filled by professors and lecturers. Each
college has a history and traditions of its own. The most
ancient of them, St. Peter's, was founded in 1257; the most
recent of the seventeen referred to above — Downing — was founded
in 1800. More recently a system has been introduced by which
students unconnected with any college can be registered as
non-collegiate students, reside in the university, and enjoy all
privileges, except such as being within the control of the various
colleges are of course confined to members of those colleges. It
is to be noted that the colleges have, several of them, a special
character of their own, and that in certain cases a special
religions character. They attract to themselves also different
classes of students, or students studying for different professions.
This is one of the advantages that a similar system would
have in China. The * union ' required for co-operation in
the university would leave the freedom of college manage-
ment, religious and otherwise, entirely unfettered. An Epis-
copalian college, a Presbyterian college, a Methodist college,
a Lutheran college, a Congregational college, a Baptist college
and even*-a Roman Catholic college might all exist here, and

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 263

work each on its own lines towards the same university stand-
ard scholarship. Other colleges, it is to be hoped, would in
course of time come in, which, while thoroughly Christian in
tone and teaching, would not be known by any ecclesiastical
distinction, but as colleges specially devoted to the study of
law, or of science, or of medicine or of languages, for such
distinctions exist to-day in fact, though not in name, in our
English universities. Already a good nucleus for our college
of a high type exists in Wuchang under Episcopalian manage-
ment, and another under Methodist management. The Church
of Scotland that has a mission in this province, and that holds
up a high standard of education in its work at home, might well
contribute a Presbyterian college in Wuchang, and provide it
worthily of its object with scholarly professors, ample accommoda-
tion and suitable apparatus, as representing every branch of
Presbyterianism. It is to be hoped that sooner or later the
Basel Mission, which has probably included a larger proportion
of Chinese scholars amongst its missionaries and has done more
to produce standard theological works in Chinese than almost
any other society, would find a home here for the development of
the highest and widest educational work. The London ]\lission
has already a high school in Hankow and also supports the
Walford Hart Memorial College in Tientsin. It could hardly
refuse to crown those educational enterprises as well as its wide-
spread evangelistic work in this province with a college at this the
seat of one of its oldest missions in China, and as a tribute to the
memory of such great scholars as Dr. Morrison, Dr. Medhurst,
Dr. Legge and others of its missionaries who have had a world-
wide reputation as scholars of the first order. These various
institutions, all working together in a sufficiently limited area
to render possible all the advantages of constant social intercourse
between their students and arrangements for intercollegiate lec-
tures, would soon in the wholesome rivalry of competition double
any efficiency that might have been possible to them working
singly, by working in this kind of combination. No one who
has visited St. John's College in Shanghai can have failed to
come away impressed and delighted by what he has seen of the
magnificent character of its work. Yet I think we have only
to imagine a college like that, not isolated as at Jessfield, but
situated in the midst of a great city like Wuchang, and pressed
by the competition of half a dozen more colleges as well equipped,
as well officered, and as well provided with funds as itself, to

264 The Chinese Recorder. [May,

suppose that it would both receive and also impart a new and
powerful stimulus in its educational development from the very
fact of this competition. We can see, too, how powerfully this
kind of educational movement would influence the standards of
the Chinese government. In as far as the Chinese officials are
seeking the best education they can conceive of for their youth,
we can have nothing but the most entirely sympathetic feelings
towards their aspirations. Our educational resources must
always be infinitesimal in point of quantity as compared with
theirs, but in education it is not quantity but quality that is the
test of real influence. Knowledge, efficiency, enthusiasm, and
the strong personality of consecrated Christian teachers, if all
found in full measure in the Christian university, will not fail to
make their due impression, first, on the surrounding Chinese
educational institutions in Wuchang, and gradually on the
whole educational standards of China. I trust that more than one
of the colleges that I hope to see commencing work in Wuchang
will from the first realize a call to give far more attention to
Chinese, and to teaching in Chinese, than to English or any
other European language. It is to the Chinese scholars we are
sent for the uplifting of the Chinese people through those who
are to do their life's- work as Chinamen among, Chinamen in the
language of China. It is my firm conviction that a time is
coming when Christian colleges will be amongst the most
conservative influences in China in the maintenance of all that
is good in the old education of the country, as they will also be
centres of the truest loyalty and patriotism. Chinese officials
seem, some of them, now to suppose that Christianity would,
if it could, sweep away Confucianism and the teachings of Chinese
antiquity. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is
Christian scholars who have preserved and cherished in the West
both the classical literature of Pagan Greece and Rome, and also
many Greek and Roman influences that are recognized in
modern life as distinctly good. It is Christian scholars and
missionaries who have laboriously translated the Chinese classics
and have published them with notes, prolegomena and disserta-
tions in the languages of Europe, and it will be Chinese
Christian scholars who in days to come will infuse new life into
these books for the use of their countrymen when the influences
now at work in government schools have gradually undermined
the faith of students in the ideals of the Confucian era as being
anywise applicable to modern life. It is not by compulsory

1906.]

Correspondence.

265

worship of tlie Sage's tablet that faith in him or respect for his
teaching can be maintained. All things that are good and true
and admirable in the teaching of the ancients recorded in the
books of China will come into a new life and exert a new
influence on men as they are studied in the light of the Faith
which takes up all that is good wherever it finds it and gives to
God the glory which shines from it as being due to Him alone.

Correspondence.

THE USE OP PRONOUNS IN
CHINESE.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : The Rev. W. H.
Gillespie's careful article on " the
use of ni in prayer," seems to
challenge some response from an
old man who has been led in the
course of his near fifty years'
service to a '* very strong feeling
against the use of " either of the
personal pronouns in addressing,
or speaking of, God, or our Lord
Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.

Mr. Gillespie's two closing
sentences have all my sympathy.
"Come boldly to the throne of
Grace;" " Draw nigh unto God ;"
"Ye are my friends; " are war-
rant indeed to '* come trustingly
and expectantly into His pres-
ence," as children to our Father,
"members incorporate" in the
mystic Body to our mystical
Head.

The only question is how to
express in Chinese the union of
filial trust with " reverence and
awe," which is our lawful atti-
tude in His presence.

In English we retain the old-
fashioned singular number, and
never address God or our Lord as
"you." It would disturb most
of us to hear the Lord's Prayer
paraphrased * * may your Name

be hallowed, may your kingdom
come." I do not think it would
be wrong, but it would shock
most of us. Yet the use of
Thou, Thee, Thine, which have
quite gone out of common
conversation, except among the
" Friends," and in some P^nglish
districts still perhaps retained in
local speech, has no tendency
that I can detect to chill my
affection or check my approach
to the mercy seat.

I began my missionary life long
ago at Ningpo in association with
devoted and able seniors, who at
that time were eagerly engaged
in giving Scriptures, prayers,
hymns, etc. , to their converts in
the romanized colloquial. They
were assisted by like-minded
American Presbyterian mission-
aries. And to the best of my
recollection none of us then
questioned the propriety of using
the Ningpo equivalents of ;//
or Va in sentences addressed, or
having reference, to God.

*! fell into line with my seniors ;
and though I may have had
misgivings, as my knowledge of
Chinese idiom grew, they did not
affect my practice for the first six
or seven 3'ears of my service.

In 1864 circumstances, which
seemed to me to convey- a divine
command, compelled me reluct-
antly to move forward to Hang-

266

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

chow, and I was one of the first
Protestant missionaries to take
up a permanent abode in an
inland city. That abode has
been my " home" ever since.

I found here a new dialect,
no Protestant Christianity, and
at first no natives who had had
any previous mtercourse with
foreigners. I engaged a scholar
to teach me the dialect, a form
of Mandarin, varying only in
pronunciation and a few local
idioms from the speech with
w^hich Mr. Gillespie is famiHar.
With this teacher and his suc-
cessors I read Chinese classics,
and also the Scriptures ; and with
their help began to adapt my
Ningpo prayer book and hymn
book to the use of our slowly
growing congregation of Hang-
chow speakers.

I soon found that the use of
the pronouns customary at Ning-
po was viewed by my guides
as impossible, except in inter-
course between equals, or rather
in addressing dependents or
inferiors. It was a gradual
process, but the effect, not only
of my piindiV s instructions, but
of observation of the conversa-
tional practice of himself and his
class, convinced me at last that
if I wished to express ' ' reverence
and awe," as well as " the spirit
of adoption," in Chinese, I must
and might substitute for ni and
t'a the Chu and Fil which Mr.
Gillespie finds so inadequate,
if not chilling.

A dozen or more years ago
we were able for some weeks
to combine — Anglicans and Pres-
byterians wath a Chinese Baptist
or two — in daily preaching in
public places. Parties, as mix-
ed as possible, of five or six
preachers, would meet at a given
chapel, spend a few moments
in prayer and then sally forth
to the appointed preaching place.

On one of these occasions I
happened to lead one of these
parties, and when we met in
the chapel I asked the Chinese
Presbyterian pastor, a native
of Ningpo, to lead us in
prayer. He did so, and not a
little disturbed my spirit by rei-
terated addresses to God as 7ii.
Knowing and trusting his real
Christian spirit, I ventured, as
we moved on, to ask him what
he really felt about the practice.
"Oh," he said "it is custom;
w^e all learnt it at Ningpo."
" Yes, but is it right, according
to the genius of your colloquial,
ought we so to address a superior
and such a superior ? ' ' was my
reply. "Oh !" said he, "if it
comes to that, why no. When
I was a youngster if I had
given my father ni, grandfather
would have boxed my ears for
it." My friend's father and
grandfather were not scholars,
but l^iojrat. ** You know," he
added, ''we learnt it from the
missionaries."

I have lived long enough to
know that ' ' none of us is infalli-
ble, not even the youngest mem-
ber of the society " ; and I simply,
and with cordial sypmathy, offer
a fragment of my experience to
Mr. Gillespie and your readers.

My practice is the result of my
experience, and I venture to con-
gratulate our senior missionaries
in Manchuria on their having, as
it seems, early in their mission-
ary lives rightly gauged the
spirit of Chinese colloquial in this
respect. I confess it disturbs
me w^hen I have to take part in
services where a different prac-
tice prevails ; but I am quite able
to credit those who differ from
me with an equal reverence and
love for our common Lord.

Yours very faithfully,

G. E. MouivB.

1906.J

Correspondence.

267

A PARAPHRASED BIBI.E.

To the Editor of

*'The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : I have just read the
remarkable letter from Dr. Stooke
in the current number of the
Recorder, and I should like
to offer a word or two of com-
ment upon his criticisms and
suggestions.

I suppose that in the early-
years of our missionary life we
are all disposed to attempt to
solve once for all difficulties with
which the ablest sinologues have
been struggling for over half a
century ; but few young mission-
aries have ventured so far as to
join issue in regard to a question
of literary style ($ ^) with so
able a sinologue as Dr. Edkins.

And the suggestion that the
Bible needs to be revised and
adopted to native taste and that
a carefully edited paraphrase
needs to be substituted for the
actual Scripture, is a most daring
proposal. "Give them (the na-
tive helpers) a free hand how
they shall clothe the sense. Un-
bind them and let them go, and
the result will be worth reading."
I should imagine that such a
book would need more comment
and explanation by a long way
than the Delegates' version itself.

By all means let us have as
many paraphrases, good com-
mentaries, and annotations as we
can, but let us beware how we
use these instead of the Bible
itself. The closing quotation of
Dr. Stooke' s letter is a very
effective answer to the letter
itself, ' ' God has chosen that His
revelation shall accept the limita-
tions of a book."

I do not think that many will
be found to agree in the desire
for a "Bible in native dress"
produced in the way suggested.

Dr. Stooke says of the transla-
tion of the Bible now in use that
"its literary style is intolerable
to the educated Chinese."

It is quite true that Chinese
scholars have a strong preference
for 5 gl, and that some do affect
to despise books published in
Mandarin, but Dr. Stooke for-
gets that the times are changing ;
not only in the public expositions
of the Sacred Edict is the Man-
darin version of that book used
but the first educational authority
in China (fl i^ $ igr it) is
producing and publishing: books
written by its |g ^ ^ ^ in the
simplest 'g' fj.

If Dr. Stooke will carefully
examine the Mandarin version of
the Sacred Edict and such a book
as J5 ^ ^ •©» published by the
above authority, he will find that
the 3!t ^ of the Delegates' ver-
sion does not suffer by com-
parison.

We are told of a candidate who
"laughingly said : *If I wrote my
examination essay in a style like
this I should never become a
H ::J-.' " Is it possible that Dr.
Stooke does not know that ex-
amination essays must of course
be written in the most finished
3it 31 ^"^ ttiat to compare the
style required for such an essay
with that of a book written in
the purest Mandarin ever penned
would be alsolute nonsense ?
Take this passage from the
Sacred Edict :_4. g ^ ^ ^ ^

4 ^ fti '< 5iL T, in ffi % ff5 fc

tH Hb T- ^ candidate might
truly say of this " literary style "
what was said in regard to the
Delegates' version.

We are told that " every page
of tjie Delegates' version offends
a native scholar's ear." I have

268

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

here on my desk before me a book
written in Mandarin by two such
well-known and accomplished
native scholars (|i # ic S) as
Ig *^Ji and If ^ ^^, in which
the Scriptures are quoted most
freely ; occasionally the sense of
Christ's teaching is given, but
repeatedly the sentences are
thrown with the actual words of
the Gospels, and it is difficult to
find any difference between the
literary style of the Scripture
quotations and the actual Man-
darin text of the book written
by these accomplished men. This
book was given me by a very
learned man, the official of an
adjacent hsien city ; and its ^ ^
evidently did not offend his ear.

The criticisms touching on the
g f^ and % ^ places in the
Delegates' version seem specially
puerile : ' ' vain repetitions of the
foreigners " indeed ! ! Have Dr.
Stooke and his Chinese teacher
never read the Chinese classics ?
How often might one mutter J|
;^ or ^ § as one reads no fur-
ther than the *' Analects " or the
** Great Learning"? Let them
look up in the "Analects" the
passage beginning ?? :^ f. if
t ^, or that beginning if t ^
if f^, or that beginning ^ ]^ •?
Fp^ f^i, etc., etc., or those passages
in the ;/^ ^ telling us the means
*^ 5^ T" >fc ^' and a few more
similar passages throughout the
Four Books, and he wall find
enough ;J \% and ^ ft to make
him desire an edition of the
Chinese classics in modern dress.

Who that is worthy the name
of scholar would desire or be
content with a paraphrase of an
ancient book if he could obtain a
faithful and literal translation ?

The thought occurs to me that
our friend is unconsciously ex-
periencing what all of us have
experienced continually to our
great annoyance ; I mean the

fatal disposition of a Chinese
teacher to echo the missionary's
sentiments. Dr. Stooke has
decided that the delegates' work
is a mere " boy's essay," and his
teacher responds " why, certain-
ly !! " and produces at once what
your correspondent has inserted
in his letter.

In another ten or fifteen years
our friend will smile at his own
criticisms and suggestions.
I am. Sir, yours truly,

An Old Hand.

February 21st, 1906."

*' THE URGENT APPEAL FOR

SELF-SUPPORT."

To the Editor of

*'The Chinese Recorder"

Dear Sir : Mr. Woodbridge
was good enough in your last
issue to come to the help and
defence of the ' ' Association for
Promoting Independence Among
Chinese Christians."

It is good that they have found
such a stalwart defender to save
them from the aspersions of the
translator of '* The Trumpet Call
to Independence." The pity is
that he didn't nobble him in the
daily press, where the translation
was published, rather than two
months afterwards in a different
periodical.

It is reported that the translator
remains incorrigible and impeni-
tent for having put into the " pub-
lic pillory " the author of ** The
Trumpet Call," for he still be-
lieves that the whole tone of that
manifesto was anything but " in-
nocuous " even if the paragraph
which Mr. Woodbridge trans-
lates wnll bear the interpretation
he puts upon it.

Mr. Woodbridge surely wrote
that sentence about the characters
Ig and H with a merry twinkle
in his eye, when he informed

1906.]

Correspondence.

269

your readers that the combination
of these two characters does not
" absolutely mean barbarian " ; he
might have told us that it means
" to squat, to sit at ease, pleased
and peaceful," and the unsuspect-
ing should have smiled serenely
at his naive interpretation, but
some will still think these diplo-
mats were wise to insist that
their countrymen be described in
some more elegant language.

The Chinese language is rich
in euphemisms and abundant in
polite phrases, but the latter were
conspicuously absent in the
"Trumpet Call" in reference to
anything that foreign mission-
aries had done to raise a self-
dependent church in China.

No one will quarrel with Chi-
nese Christians for desiring inde-
pendence. Missionaries every-
where will welcome it, but Mr.
Woodbridge really must not ask
us to smile complacently when
we are unceremoniously kicked
out w^ithout a word of thanks by
the people we have given our
lives to help.

In the eager rush of reform
that is to make China a great
power, we trust that filial respect
will not be lost by this people.
Missionaries have no wish to
keep their Christian offspring
in leading strings longer than is
needful, but they do hope their
spiritual children will repay with
thankful words, at least, the love
that has been expended upon
them. There is room for another
manifesto on self-dependence,
but its tone must be different
from the "Trumpet Call" if it
is to promote the end it had in
view. The writer of the ' * Trum-
pet Call" is clever and capable,
but judged by what has come
from his pen he is not spiritual ;
hence it would be well before
another such article is issued to
the Chinese that he be prevailed
upon to submit it for friendly
criticism, so that he may really
help and not hinder the cause of
Christian independence in the
Chinese church.

Yours, etc,
An Independent.

To the American Missionaries in China.

Dear Brethren : At the Thir-
teenth Conference of Foreign
Missions Boards, held in Nash-
ville, Tennessee, on February
27-28, 1906, the following pre-
amble and resolutions were
unanimously adopted : —

*• Whereas, there have been numer-
ous examples of unjust treatment of
Chinese coming to our shores,
furnishing in some cases sufficient
ground for righteous indignation
upon their '^^xt.trealmeiit whicli does
not represent the sentiment of the
people in America, and

Whereas, on the other hand, we
deeply regret the existence of the
boycott and the train of evils which
may follow in the wake of such a
movement —

Resolved, that it is the conviction
of this representative body that every

proper exertion should be made in
the direction of securing a treaty
between America and China which
shall conform to the Golden Rule.

Resolved, that a suitable letter be
sent, through the missionaries to the
churches in China, setting forth that
the American Christians look to
Chinese Christians to give their fellow-
countrymen a correct view of the
friendly interest of America in the
we*^fHre of Cliina, and to inform them
of the tens of thousands of cases
where Chinese in America have been
aided b}' American citizens, as op-
posed to a one-sided view regarding
the ill-treatment of Chinese, due to
political and economic conditions, and
further to express the conviction that
as Christians we should all unite, by
prayer and by the exercis-^ of the
Christian virtue of patience, to bring
about peace and goodwill and the
extension of the Kingdom of Christ."

270

The Chinese Recorder.

LMay,

As there were some thirty
Boards and Societies in the
United States and Canada repre-
sented at the Conference, the
resolutions may be taken as
representing the general senti-
ment of the Christian people in
America who are supporting
missions in China, as they un-
doubtedly express the good
wishes of the Christian people in
Canada.

It is hardly possible in a brief
letter to fully explain or express
the feelings of the Christians in
the United States toward their
brethren in China. We under-
stand that they are in a delicate
position in defending us, especial-
ly w^hen some of them have
received treatment on their
arrival in this country incon-
sistent with the ethical teachings
of Christianity.

Moreover, we wish our Chinese
Christian friends to understand
that while the Christian people
of the United States unhesitat-
ingly condemn any rules and
regulations causing unnecessary
discomfort to those China citizens
already admitted by treaty to
the United States, on the other
hand they recognize that the
admission of Chinese laborers
into the United States is a
political question about which
there may be differences of

opinion and which it may take
years to fully settle.

Meanwhile, as China seems on
the verge of a great intellectual
and material development, we
would emphasize our belief that
the Christian religion is the only
moral conserving force to meet
the issues in her national life
which will naturally arise. We
believe that while pressed with
these same contending evils we
owe our stability as a nation
wholly to the power of Christian-
ity manifested in the individual.
It is on this account that the
members of the Church of Christ
in America and Canada are send-
ing missionaries and contribut-
ing toward the extension of the
Kingdom of Christ in China.

The Conference would be
greatly obliged if you will see
that the purport of the above
resolutions is communicated to
the Chinese churches, together
with its earnest solicitude and
deepest sympathy with all the
members of that rising church,
which we fully believe will take
a leading part in the future de-
velopment and welfare of China.

Faithfully yours,

W. Henry Grant,

Secretary,

156 Fifth Avenue, New York,
March 17th, 1906.

Our Book Table.

One of China's Scholars. The culture
and conversion of a Confucianist.
With illustrations. By Mrs. Howard
Taylor (n^e Geraldine Guinness),
author of " In the Far East," and
"Story of the China Inland Mission . ' *
Sixth edition. London : Morgan
& Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings,
E. C. China Inland Mission, New-
ington Green, N.

This book, of which " Pastor
Hsi," by the same author, is

a sequel, relates the history of
the now famous pastor. It gives
a good insight into the home and
school training of this Confucian
youth and his doubts and fears,
which were finally removed and
allayed by faith in the truth as
it is in Jesus. The book says
that " Pastor Hsi has now for
many years poured forth his very
life in the service of others. He

1906.]

Our Book Table.

271

is just burninor out for God. He
has impoverished himself to suc-
cour the needy and save the
lost, sacrificing time, health,
home and every comfort to attain
this end. Moved early in his
Christian life to attempt some
effort for the cure of opium-
smokers, he began by treating a
few cases in his own home with
medicines prepared by himself.
The work grew rapidly until
one after another regular refuges
had to be opened, which gradually
developed into centres of mis-
sionary activity, numbers of men
and women being led to Christ.
Although a reg^ularly ordained
pastor of the China Inland Mis-
sion, he receives no salary or
remuneration from us, and the
Mission as such has nothing to
do with his opium refuge work."
W.

The Celestial and his Religions : or the
Religious Aspect in China. By J.
Dyer Ball. Hongkong: Messrs, Kelly
and Walsh. 260 pp. Price ^3.00.

In order to adequately indicate
the many excellencies of this
little book a longer review is
necessary than we have presently
space for. The scope and limita-
tions of the work are evident
when we learn that the different
chapters formed a series of
lectures delivered at the Young
Men's Christian Association in
Hongkong. The subjects of the
chapters are : —

I. The Primeval Conception of God

in China and the Primitive

Religion of the Chinese.

II. Propriety, Ceremonial, and

Natural Righteousness, or

Confucianism.

III. Philosophy Degenerated into

Superstition, or Taoism.

IV. The Dim Religious Light of

Buddhism in China.
V. The Arabian Prophet in China.

VI. A Remnant of the Scattered Race.

VII. Ancient and Mediaeval Chris-

tianity in the Far East.
VIII. Protestant Christianity in China.

These lectures show an inti-
mate knowledge of the subject
and a sympathetic appreciation
of what only can satisfy man's
deepest cravings. Whilst there
is a recognition of a certain
amount of consciousness of God,
a due appreciation of the beauty
of ancient religions and philoso-
phies, and thankfulness for an
early high standard of morality,
there is frequent reference to the
growth of superstition and the
deterioration from high ideas.

As to the actual get-up of the
book, whilst there is an excellent
index at the end we regret the
lack at the beginning of the
usual "contents" page. There
are a number of typographical
errors scattered through the
book. Scrutinising a few pages
more closely we find on pages 60
and 61 "Loa-tsz" for Lao-tsz,
on page 62 " phenominon " and
" phenominal ; " and surely,
although the repetition of "To"
seven times in quotations on
pages 62 and 63 would indicate
the use of a colloquial form of
the important word in Taoism,
the author or printers would have
been justified in using "Tao"
instead of "To." A serious
blunder is to be found in the
first sentence on page 31. It is
not a sentence at all, but is com-
posed of subordinate clauses.

We cordially recommend this
book to all who have not the
time or opportunity for deeper
delvings into the religious or
epical systems of China; and we
feel sure that whilst the reader
will be pained and puzzled by
the credulities and superstitions
of the people he will find much
that will widen his horizon and
increase his knowledge of higher
themes, and that will evoke sym-
pathy and awaken admiration for
a people he has hitherto found
hard to understand and difficult
to appreciate. G. M.

272

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

Life in West China, by R. J. Davidson
and J. Mason. London : Headly
Brothers. 2S. 6d. Copies may be
ordered through the Presbyterian
Mission Press, as an order has been
sent to London for a supply.

This is the first attempt that
has been made to give an account
of the Friends' Foreign Mission-
ary Association and work in
China.

It is a prettily got up book of
about 250 pages, most profusely
illustrated with photos and maps,
and full of useful information on
the social and religious customs
of the Chinese.

While the latter part of the
book (and we think it the most
interesting) is more especially
devoted to the progress of the
Friends' work in West China, there
are several chapters in the earlier
portion giving a general survey
of missionary operations in China,
and it is pleasant to read the gen-
erous references to the work of
societies other than the authors'.

The volume is sure to have a
ready sale at missionary gather-
ings at home, and should prove
of great service in stimulating
and deepening the interest in the
progress of God's kingdom in
the land of Sinim. Many will
turn to this as a handy book of
reference on West China mission
work, and it can be recommended
as a useful volume to put into
the hands of one's friends who
are seeking to learn something
of China and things Chinese.

We congratulate the authors
on their attempt to bring more
vividly before the home public
the vast opportunity China offers
for missionary work at the
present time.

The title of the book is not
happily chosen ; the earlier chap-
ters being of so general a
character as to make it a
misnomer ; in fact if a few of
those chapters were omitted

and more of the personal incident
style of the latter part of the
book added, it would enhance the
interest of the whole volume.

Some of the illustrations might
wnth advantage be placed nearer
the letterpress account of them ;
for example, on page 45 there is
an illustration of the great ex-
amination hall, Chen-tu, while
information about it does not
appear till page 129.

There are one or two inaccu-
racies in statistics which should be
corrected. The three cities at
the mouth of the Han are said
to have a population of 500,000,
whereas 1,500,000 is nearer the
mark.

Then the C. I. M. is said to have
200 workers in Szchuan, while
there are onl}^ 243 of all societies
combined in that province.

It would also improve the
book to have fewer quotations
from extant works on China ; the
authors could have expressed
their own views instead of those
of others, and from their rich and
varied experience I am sure these
would have been well worth
hearing.

The book has an excellent
appendix and index at the end,
and the introduction by Rev.
Timothy Richard is in that
author's well-known style.

The entire get-up of type,
illustration and paper leave little
to be desired, and we heartily
recommend the book as likely
to be of much use. j q q

Eighteenth Annual Report of the
Christian Literature Society for
China (formerly the S. D. K.).

We have before us the eight-
eenth annual report of the
Christian Literature Society for
China. The first thing which
strikes us is of course the altered
name of the Society. It will
take some while to become used

1906.]

Our Book Table.

273

to the change, and for the new
to bring to mind the same con-
notation as did the old.

After the usual standing matter
in the form of lists of office-
bearers, members, etc., and the
constitution of the Society, the
actual report commences. Facing
the first page is an excellent
portrait of the Venerable Arch-
deacon Moule, B.D.

The report touches on many
aspects of the present conditions
of China ; some of the paragraphs
are worth mentioning. Refer-
ring to the Japan-Russia war
there is an interesting reference to
a remark of President McKinley,
pointing out the place which the
"Golden Rule" ought to have
in international politics.

We trust that the result of
the travels of the five High
Commissioners who have been
sent abroad with a view to
study the various forms of
constitutional government, will
be equal to the expectation of
the C. L. S. report, page 3, but
if the report is true that they
have had to shorten their time
in America for want of money,
we are like the Scotsman and
*' ha'e oor doots."

We entirely endorse the re-
marks on the chauvinistic war
party, page 4.

The report refers to the boy-
cott ; this we need hardly enlarge
upon, except to say that, as the
report points out, the American
boycott has been a sign, at which
we surely ought not to complain,
of the awakening of a new force
in China. To mould that new
force and guide it is the great
work of the C. ly. S. , and the pre-
sent opportunity is perhaps the
greatest that has ever been given
to the Christian nations. On them
rests the responsibility, ''quod
71071 ferre maxi^mivi est nefas.'^

Not less important is the decree.

abolishing the old style of ex-
aminations, referred to on page 6.
A most interesting comparison
between China and Japan follows,
showing that China needs
255,429 primary schools to place
her on the same level, educa-
tionally, as Japan. And yet the
Chinese think they are ready
to follow Japan's lead !

The report also refers to the
growing spirit of Union amongst
the nations of the West, and
amongst the churches repre-
sented by missions in China.
These are signs of the coming
day. Already the dawn is
brightening. May the day soon
break ! It may be that in the East
will the dawn of a world-wide
Union break, and, as once before,
the day of brighter and better
things travel from East to West.

There is no room to refer to
all the sides which the report
touches on, but we cannot pass
over its reference to the character
of the Chinese literature and press
of the present day, page 19. The
utterances of some of the native
papers, and the absurd and lying
statements made by them, and the
still more absurd and grotesque
arguments and conclusions based
thereon, sometimes make us won-
der whether freedom of the press
may not be a curse instead of
a blessing. Learning, whether
Western or Eastern, must be
assimilated betore it can become
of use to any one, and three
3'ears in Japan, or even in
Europe, cannot change the
ignorant Chinese student into a
wise and skilled administrator.

On page 20 is a list of the
class of books translated and
published, which need not be
specified in a short resume.

The list of "needs," page 21,
is a suggestive one, and we feel
sure that it will be the wish and
prayer of all that the C. L. S.

274

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

may have its needs supplied
*' full measure, pressed down and
running over."

Then follow the annual bal-
ance sheets. We are glad to
note (see p. 13) that the financial
position of the Society is better
than during the previous year.

This review cannot be con-
cluded without reference to Dr.
Edkins, Miss Melvin and Rev.
A. J. Jones. They laboured
much for the Society and have
entered into their rest. Excel-
lent portraits of Dr. Edkins
and Miss Melvin are published
in the report, and lend an inter-
est to it which is linked, in the
case of Dr. Edkins, with the
early beginnings of Protestant
missionary work in China.

The appendix contains a copy
of the decree regarding old ex-
aminations and the new agree-
ment between the United King-
dom and Japan. These are most
interesting, and it is convenient
to have them thus easily to hand.

The report concludes with the
minutes of the annual meeting
held January 19th, 1906.

On the inside page of the end
cover is a paragraph we would
recommend to the notice of our
readers. Bis dat qui cito dat.

We welcome the report and
congratulate the C. L. S. on
another year's good work, and
wish it God speed and still
greater success in the future.
H. L. W. B.

Useful Phrases in the Shanghai Dia-
lect, with Index, Vocabulary and
other Helps. Compiled by Gilbert
Mcintosh. Shanghai : American
Presbyterian Mission Press and
Kelly & Walsh. 1906. Price $1.00.

In the China Mission Hand-
book, published in 1896, there is
a valuable article by the late
P. G. von Mollendorff, formerly
of the Chinese Imperial Customs
service, on ^' the Foreign Lan-

guages spoken in China and the
Classification of the Chi?iese Dia-
lects.'' In this article the writer
states that for the purpose of
classifying the dialects of China
the country can be divided into
two parts. **In the one com-
prising about four-fifths of the
whole empire, Mandarin is
spoken ; the other part comprises
the coast provinces, Southern
Kiangsu, Chehkiang, Fuhkien,
Kuantung, embracing three dia-
lectic groups" — "the Wu, the
Min, and the Kwantung dialects."
These three dialects are spoken
by eighty-four millions of people.
The first of these three groups,
as its name indicates, was the
language spoken by the people of
the ancient state of Wu, compris-
ing the whole of the Chehkiang
province and extending north and
south of it. (About A. D. 250.)
The Wu dialects ' ' represent the
Kuan-hiia as spoken before the
time that Tartar influence chaiiged
it to what it is nozv.'' " For
linguistic researches they are of
special importance, especially as
they form the basis of the Japanese
go-on (^ ^ wu-yin)." Von
Mollendorff reckoned (1896) that
some forty-four millions of people
spoke the Wu dialects, of which
the principal varieties are the
Ningpo in Chehkiang and the
Shanghai and Soochow in South
Kiangsu. We may therefore to-
day (1906) safely reckon that
there is a population of forty -five
millions speaking the Wu dialects.
The importance of the Wu lan-
guage may be seen when we
compare the following figures
from Whittaker : —

dom

Japan last census

Census of 1900— Population of
England
Ireland,
Scotland
Wales,
„ 1896— France

1896— Italy

„ 1887 — Turkey, Europe,
Asia (estimated)

,, 1887— Spain

„ 1890— Persia (estimated)

43-759.577

( United^
\ King- 140,921,371

38,517.975
31.479.217

20,000,000

17.550,216
9,000,000

1906.]

Our Book Table.

275

I

As the differences between the
varieties of the Wii language are
comparatively small the acquisi-
tion of one of them, as for
instance the Shanghai, enables
one to hold communication with
a section of the Chinese more
numerous than the population of
Japan or the United Kingdom or
France. Having these facts
in mind we are in a position
perhaps to estimate more correctly
the value of such a book as that
which Mr. Gilbert Mcintosh has
just compiled. " Useful Phrases
in the Shanghai Dialect" will,
we feel assured, fulfil the author's
hopes that it will be of use to
the tourist, merchant, house wife
and student of colloquial Chinese.
Mr. Mcintosh in his former pu-
blications— "The Chinese Crisis "
and " Is There Anything In It "
— showed that he possessed, to
an uncommon degree, the art of
being able to select and arrange
his material to the very best
advantage. He is equally suc-
cessful in this new work. After
a short Introduction we have a
description of the Shanghai Ro-
manized system as compiled by
Mr. Silsby. All the phrases are
given in Rnglish, Chinese char-
acter and Romanized. First come
a series of phrases under the
head of "Salutations;" a useful
distinction being made between
the ordinary and the more polite
expressions. The other head-
ings are : —

On the Street, the Merchant,
Up-country, the Cook, House
Boy, Coolie, Amah, Tailor,
(Ladies' and Gentlemen's) , Wash-
erman, Mafoo, Shopping and
Chinese Teacher.

Then follow the Numerals and
forty-three forms of Classifiers,
Examples of Parts of Speech,
Directions, Designations, Titles,
etc., Time, Weather and House
Vocabulary, concluding with an

Index and Vocabulary giving
the English and Romanized of
over 500 common words with
the page where they are referred
to in the book.

We can very heartily recom-
mend this book to all students of
the dialect. It supplies a felt
want and is a valuable addition to
the list of works — all too few —
dealing with the various dialects
of the Wu language. The author
is to be congratulated on produc-
ing a really useful piece of work.
We hope Part II is in course of
preparation.

E. B.

REVIEWS BY J. D.

A Chinese Bible Dictionary. Pub-
lished by the Chinese Tract Society.
E'lited by Rev. J. jM. W. Farnham,
U.D. (Second Edition.)

A Chinese preacher who has
no Bible Dictionary is in a sorry
plight. Especially is this true
of the great number of men who
are doing excellent service for
the church of Christ, albeit they
have had but the scantiest theol-
ogical training. To these men
much of the Bible is only partial-
ly intelligible. They are asked
all sorts of questions, too, by
those who have just become
enquirers and are reading the
Bible for the first time. The
answers to these questions are
often curious and seldom accurate.
Well, here is the very book such
a man needs. There is scarcely
any person, place or thing men-
tioned in Scripture about which
he ma}' not get reliable informa-
tion by consulting this book. Dr.
Farnham in a long and useful
life in China has rendered the
Chinese church no better service
than the preparation of this Dic-
tionary. Mrs. Farnham, too, we
are told, "has gone ov^er the
whole very carefully," and so
has made every Chinese Christian

276

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

who, in days to come, will be
helped by this bock her debtor.

The volume measures 1 1 by
7 inches. There are more than
450 pages. The paper is white
mao-pien, the type medium size
and very clear. There are hun-
dreds of good pictures, and the
pictures are illustrations. The
style is easy Wen-li — very easy
to men accustomed to read the
Mandarin Bible. The descriptive
articles are brief but comprehen-
sive enough for the need of those
for whom the work is designed.
There are also excellent indexes
in English and Chinese. It is a
good work well done and will be
of immense benefit to the church.

Commentary on Jude. Rev. G. A.
Clayton. Chinese Tract Society.
3 cents per copy.

This book is in Mandarin and
will be helpful to native preach-
ers. It would have been better
to have printed the text of Scrip-
ture in different type from that
used for the commentary. Some
will dissent from Mr. Clayton's
exposition of Ch. II. 6, but the
author has doubtless weighty
names in favour of the interpre-
tation he has chosen.

Sheet "Tracts in Mandarin, by
Dr. J. Norman Case. Chinese
Tract Society.

Abide in my lyove. 20 cents
per 100.

Important Points of the Gospel.
15 cents per 100.

Vanity of Riches. 15 cents
per 100.

Commercial Press's New Common
vSchool Text-books Advanced : Arith-
metic. No. III. For the higher
grades of primary schools.

This book contains lessons
on Vulgar Fractions, Propor-

tions, Decimals and Interest. It
is clearly printed in easy W^n-li.
20 cents.

Elementary Physics for higher grades
of female schools, and may also be
used for first classes in normal
schools. 20 cents.

This book is also in easy Wen-
li. It has many illustrations, and
is very cheap at twenty cents.
My impression is that the book
needs a capable and very energe-
tic teacher to expound it. The
explanations are so abbreviated
that without much elucidation
the pupil will not understand
them. For instance, there is an
illustration given of the parallel-
ogram of forces. ^ ^, ka W 1^

;t,PrjaiS*- "For example;
attach four ropes to a bucket.
Let two persons each grasp two
of the ropes and pull ; they can
thus dip up water."

Something more than this in
the way of explanation is needed.

iP ^ ^ Sfll. The Story of Ivanhoe.
|i.oo.

This book is translated by
Lin Hsu, the translator of Uncle
Tom's Cabin which has been so
popular with the Chinese. Al-
ready many thousand copies of
Ivanhoe, in its new dress, have
been sold, and the story of the
Saxon hero and the fair Jewess
bids fair to be as great a favourite
with China's millions as with the
countrymen of its author.

iK\liWiifii%. Montezuma's Daughter.
By Rider Haggard. Translated by
Lin Hsu. 90 cents.

This writer is said to have a
style that recalls that of the Liao
Chai. The book is being widely
read by the Chinese.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

277

lei SH 5- Looking Backward.
Edward Bellamy. Translated
into excellent Mandarin. 30
cents.

^u ^ "B- The Ring Club. 30 cents.

A detective story, the scene of
which is laid in Paris.

W S iJt- The Traitor: from
the German. 40 cents.

B ^ 5K ^ IE- Gay Paris. Two Vols.
|i.oo.

Not being familiar with the
originals we can say nothing of
the translation of these books,
but we can vouch for it that the
style is excellent mandarin.

These books are all printed in
clear type on white paper. They
are published and sold at the
above prices by the Commercial
Press.

J. D.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 44.
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the
work they are engaged on, so
that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C. L. S. List::--

Translated by Miss Laura
White : — Christmas in Different
Countries.

By Rev. J. Sadler : — Winners
in Life's Race. (Finished.)

S. D. Gordon's book on Power.
By Rev. D. MacGillivray. (Finish-
ed.)

The book on Prayer is finished.

Booker T. Washington's " Up
from Slavery.' ' By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Commercial Press List: —

Laughlin's Political Economy.

Hinman's Eclectic Physical
Geography.

Milne' s Plane and Solid Geome-
try.

Geographical Terms in Chinese,
European Constitutional History
(for Educational Association).

Green's History of the English
People, translated for the Kiang-
nan Arsenal.

Shajisi Imperial University
List :—

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

Text-books of Tokio Normal
School. Translated from the
Japanese : Meteorology, Iron-
work, Mineralogy, Zoology,
Physiology, Physiography.

Systematic Theology. By Dn
H. C. DuBose.

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's ''Studies in the
Life of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters.

Tales from Tolstoy. By Rev.
I. Genahr.

1k)lstoy's "Bethink Your-
selves." By Rev. F. Ohlinger.

Nobody Loves Me. By Mrs.
O. F. Walton. Translated by
Mrs. C. W. Mateer.

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Rev. C. H. Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

278

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

Couling's Text-book of Zoo-
logy.

Outline Scripture Catechism.
By Mrs. Hugh W. White.

Doctrinal Catechism. By Rev.
Hugh W. White.

Mrs. Bertha S. Ohlinger, " An
Indian Princess."

Abridgment of Mateer's Arith-
metic. By Mrs. Mateer.

Mr. MacGillivray's Classified
and Descriptive Catalogue of
Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out, he purposes bringing
it up to date for the 1907 Centen-
ary Conference, including all dis-
tinctively Christian books by all
Societies. Suggestions for im-
provement and materials grate-
fully received from recent authors
and from Societies. He has also
in mind to publish a China Mis-

sion Year-Book, commencing
with 1906, to be issued at the
beginning of 1907, this to be the
first of a regularly appearing
series of Year -Books. Sugges-
tions as to what should be
included in these Year-Books are
now solicited. He would also
like to know from missionaries
what they think of the idea.
This has nothing to do with the
Centenary Historical Sketches,
of which he is Editor.

We are glad to note from the
Report of the C. I. M. that Rev.
F. W. Bailer is preparing a
ChinCvSe version of Pastor Hsi,
for which many are now enquir-
ing. Also by same author, Man-
darin Hyvinbook for Women and
Children, a great want. (Just out).

Editorial Comment.

The most notable event dur-
ing the past month wasundoubt-

Q:be San Jfrandsco

edly the San
^ ^, X. Francisco

Eactbquafte. ,„t,,qu^ke.

Just when we were studying
nature in one of her happiest
aspects, rejoicing in the dark
boughs being clothed with liv-
ing green, and our thoughts
dwelling on the mystery of re-
juvenation, came the awful
news of death, destruction and
dismay. The suddenness of it
all still appals us ; there was no
Mount Vesuvius with its dark
clouds of menace and monition.
The news is the more disquiet-
ing and portentous to workers
in China, as most of us have
friends in San Francisco or its
environs. Even more respon-
sive than the seismograph of

the Zikawei Observatory to the
commotion propagated through
the terrestrial crust or the un-
dulations over its surface, was
the heart's response to the need
for help. Our sympathies go
out to the mourners, and if
anything can be done from
this long distance for the relief
of the sufferers, we know it
will be done.

It is a natural step from the

feeding of the hungry and

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ . * , homeless in

'^•J'^-ti''T' the stricken
annual deport, ^j^^ ^^ ^j^^

supplying of the Bread of Life
to those who have yearnings
after higher things and also to
those, alas, who have none.
We welcome the Report of the

1906. J

Editorial Comment.

279

China Agency of the British
and Foreign Bible Society.
The response to the cry for
help from those physically
famished shames us as we
think of the indifference to the
call there is for the satisfying
of spiritual hunger. The re-
port before us has many splen-
did testimonies to the manner
in which these cravings have
been supplied, and is a monu-
ment to the labours of the
Bible Society's agents and their
co-workers. We are rejoiced
to hear that the past year has
called for the printing and
issue of over one million three
hundred thousand volumes of
the Scriptures ; the actual
figures being 1,307,750, or
about 169,491 more than in
1904. It is interesting to note
in this connection the relation
of sales and grants in the dis-
tribution of these books ; the
former amounting to 1,046,569
copies, whilst the latter total
28,611.

One feature of the report
is the way in which the B.
and F. B. S. keeps in touch
with political movements — the
abolition of official literary ex-
aminations, the new educa-
tional policy of the government
and other reforms, legislative,
administrative, and social, being
referred to. As Mr. Bondfield
says : —

The outlook from the missionary
point of view is full of hope ; for if
the new knowledge brings with it a
spirit of independence and even a
measure of anti-foreign feeling, it will
in due time also awaken a new sense
of responsibility in' the ruling classes
and release the common people from
many of their degrading superstitions
and ignorant fears. The problem that
now confronts the missionary is how

to make the best of his new opportu-
nities. An intellectual and national
awakening has come. How can a
spiritual awakening be brought about?
The new knowledge needs the leaven
of the Gospel, and the spirit of reform
requires to be directed to the highest
ends. How can this be accomplished ?
Each worker nmst solve the problem
along his own line of service.

For the Bible Societies the pro-
blem is mainly one of means and
methods. The Book to whose transla-
tion and circulation their work is
restricted, is preeminently the Book
for the times. The Word of God,
with its revelation of the Way, the
Truth, and the Life, is the Word above
all others that China's awakening
millions need.

On some future occasion we

hope to draw attention to other

interesting features

•Revision.

dwelt on in the

report ; but we will
now simply refer to what has
been done in the matter of
revision. Substantial advance
has been made by the High
Wen-li Committee ; they an-
ticipiite finishing the remainder
of the New Testament next
summer. About the same time
that we received this report, we
received the tentative transla-
tion of the Mandarin Union
Version Four Gospels, which
had already been issued in
printed form and was subjected
to a most careful revision.
One friend who has made a
life-long study of Mandarin
sp^ks highly of the edition,
saying it is a magnificent work,
and that it would be under-
stood, when read, in any Man-
darin-speaking congregation.

In our next issue we hope to
publish a picture of the Man-
darin company of revisers.
The names of those who have
helped in Bible translation

280

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

work from the beginning, snch
as Milne, Medhurst, Stronach,
Bridgman, Cnlbertson, Blod-
gett, Edkins, Burdon, and
Schereschewsky, fill us with
deep gratitude ; but it is well
to acknowledge the scholarship
and strenuous energy of the
present revisers. As Mr. Bond-
field says : —

Those who are at all familiar
with the intricacies of Chinese style
and the problems of translating will
appreciate the vast labour involved
in every substantial advance and the
patient thought that lies behind
every new felicitous rendering. The
successful translator is one of God's
great gifts to the Church in the
mission field. As he toils for the
good of all, so he deserves to be
lionoured by all and to be remem-
bered by us all in prayer.

* * *

To many of our readers as
well as to ourselves the news of
the death of Mr.

XTbc Xatc /IBr.
TR. m. Xlttlc.

R. W. Little,
editor of the
North China Daily News^ will
come with a sense of personal
loss. His kindly courtesy and
helpful interest in all that was
good and for the benefit of his
fellows has been a constant
source of inspiration to us dur-
ing a personal acquaintance
of nearly twenty years. The
sorrow we feel, though great,
can but intensify our sympathy
with the acute grief felt by
his wife and the more intimate
circle of his friends and co-
workers. He had many gifts
and graces. One gift which
especially evoked admiration
was the faculty of extracting
juice out of dry statistics and
of making vivid the vital facts
of uninviting Blue Books. He
appreciated the value of the

labours of his many missionary
correspondents as well as the
importance of their contribu-
tions to his columns. At a
time like this, when it is so
easy to express our kindly
thoughts of our friend, we
think the best tribute we can
pay to his memory is to repeat
statements made at times when
there was no special reason for
being laudatory. Mr. Stanley
P. Smith, in the preface to his
*' China from Within " (1901),
says : —

" Our deepest debt of thanks is due
to the North Ch'ina Herald, which is
the weekly edition of the North China
Daily News. This paper is justly
held to be the best newspaper in the
Far East. It is, perhaps, not too much
to say that if its prescient warnings
about the rise and progress of the late
anti-foreign movement had been laid
to heart earlier, it might have been
avoided, or certainly mitigated in its
intensity. No one who wishes to be
well posted up in matters Chinese can

afford to be without the paper."

•

In our Editorials for Novem-
ber, 1 90 1, we said : —

"It is the views of such men as
Sir Robert (Hart) and the editor of
the Daily Neius, men who have had
exceptional opportunities for obser-
vation, as laymen and non-mission-
aries, that the missionaries are glad to
see recorded ; not because they are
favorable, but because they are true."

Whilst in May, 1902, we drew
attention to Mr. Little's spirit of
fairness, heartily endorsing the
letter of the Shanghai Branch
of the China Missionary Alli-
ance which appeared in the
same number. This letter
says : —

"Dear Mr. Little :— The Shanghai
Branch of the China Missionary Alli-
ance desires to express its sincere
appreciation of the great service you
have rendered to the missionary cause
not only during the recent crisis, but
also through the many years of your

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

281

editorial direction of the North China
Daily News. The information you
have given in your columns as to the
progress of missionary work, the
interest you have taken in all its
developments, the good spirit in
which you have criticised when you
have thought criticism necessary, the
sympathy with which you have writ-
ten of the sufferings and losses of our
fellow-workers, and the ability with
which you have defended missionary
polity and methods, and advocated
the rights of native Christians, have
greatly strengthened our hands and
placed us under the deepest obliga-
tion."

* * *

We referred in our last issue
to the expected arrival of Dr.
^ „ ^ ^ , Howard Agnew
\^i i*. Johnston. As

we go to press
his meetings in Shanghai are
coming to a close, and on the
eve of his going north we
would bespeak a cordial wel-
come from the workers there.
The happy and helpful experi-
ences of the past few days,
and the news from centres
already visited by Dr. John-
ston, show the wisdom of the
General Assembly of the Pres-
byterian Church in U. S. A.
in sending him on a special
tour to the missions of Asia.
The earnest and illuminating
presentation of certain aspects
of Divine truth, which are too
little emphasized, made a pro-
found and lasting impression.
We will not readily forget
the answers he gave to the
frequently repeated question,
* ' Why is it that the church of
Christ has so little power in
the w^orld ? ' ' We believe that
as a result of this visit there
will be more earnest desire for
a living faith, keener, heartfelt
supplication that we may have
more of the Holy Spirit and

that the Holy Spirit may have
more of us, and more longing
for a deeper love for Christ and
towards the souls around us for
whose salvation He gave His
life. In our desire to be true
witnesses and intercessors we
will dwell longingly on what
Dr. Johnston told us of the
wonderful manifestations of
God's power in India. Ratnagiri
is a new name to us, and the
agony of confession of sin, and
the day-long and night-long
prayer meetings accompanying
these revivals, are strange to us,
but we feel sure we could risk
the criticisms and enjoy the
same experiences which Dr.
Jojinston mentioned as accom-
paniments of the revival in
India.

* * *

Many of our readers will
join us in congratulating the
Rev. M o i r

Gonoratulattone to
Dr. /iBoir Duncan.

B. Duncan,
M. A. , o n
the honour done him by the
Senate of Glasgow University
in conferring upon him the
degree of hh. D. His work as
a member of the Baptist Mis-
sionary Society is well known
to many of our readers, and
their respect for him has been
increased by the strenuous man-
ner in which he has laboured
in connection with the found-
ing and development of the
Shansi University. It will be
remembered that after the troub-
les of 1900 it was decided that
in lieu of compensation the
Chinese government should
establish universities on West-
ern lines, so that Chinese
students might be enlightened

282

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

with the learning of the West.
This was done mainly on the
advice of Dr. Richard, who
recognised the large part igno-
rance had played in that up-
rising. Dr. Duncan was select-
ed as the principal of the
Shansi University at Tai-yuan-
fu. We trust that he and ]\Irs.
Duncan will be long spared to
see the work still further
developed and the influence of
the university still more widely
felt.

tion to this subject of the
importance of harmony be-
tween Chinese and Westerners.
As the last mails from the
United States are partly ex-
planatory of the feeling of
uneasiness that prevailed with
regard to affairs in China, we
will first look at the matter
from the standpoint of the rela-
tions of China and the Chinese
with the United States, and
the light this throws on foreign
relations in general.

Collisions.

In our last issue we referred
with some feeling of anxiety
to the manner in
which new Chinese
ideas and strength-
ened Western antipathies
threatened to clash, and prom-
ised a fuller discussion of the
subject in this issue. We are
glad and thankful to report a
much happier state of feeling
and more harmonious method
of action. This apparently is
the result of irritating causes
becoming less prominent, points
of amicable contact being
sought for, and the evident
desire of the Chinese govern-
ment to repress disorder and
encourage harmonious reci-
procity. Before, however, we
dismiss from our minds the
remembrance of complications
and misunderstandings that
imparted so much bitterness to
the discussion of such a subject
as the consultative committee,
or the suspicions that sprung
into being on the mere sug-
gestion of the formation of a
Chinese volunteer corps, or the
darker shades of the Nanchang
tangle, we would draw atten-

The boycott against Ameri-
can goods is probably near its

^i ^ ^ ^ end : but the re-
Distrust anD . -, ' r
^ . ^, sidunm of preiu-

^ dice and suspicion

which has crystallized in the
public mind in China must
have unfortunate results for
many years to come. Preju-
dice and suspicion have always
existed ; but it is unfortunate
that just as public opinion is
forming in China, the material
given it on which to form its
earliest popular verdicts should
be such difficult and vexed
questions as those involved in
China's foreign relations. The
verdicts are sure to be incor-
rect ; and yet, like the ideas
formed in childhood, they will
be the most difficult to re-
place. Especially is this so
in every case in which the
passions of the people are stir-
red. The boycott propaganda
was a case in point. The Chi-
nese people at large are more
distrustful of the United States
than ever before. We there-
fore await with the utmost
interest the fulfilling of the
pledge given by President

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

283

Roosevelt to Dr. Corbett re-
cently : "I want you to tell
the Chinese people I am
determined that justice shall be
done them." His next words
ought, equally with these, to
be placed before the minds of
every Chinaman of influence :
*'Tell them that they must
help me ; and that mobs such
as at the killing of our mis-
sionaries at Lienchow hinder
me and all others who are
urgent to see justice doue to
the Chinese."

It is probably not under-
stood by many that the real
^^ ^ * . seat of the boycott
tb£ JBoY>cott propaganda was in

A recent letter from one of
our missionaries at home may
be quoted here : ^' The U. S.,
and especially the Pacific Coast
is, I am satisfied, the seat of
the boycott. I visited and
talked with quite a number of
the Chinese on the Pacific
Coast, and was surprised at the
manner in which they are
organized, and for two pur-
poses : one, to demand the
restoration of the Emperor to
power, and the other, to insist
upon better treatment by the
U. S. of the permitted classes
coming to the U. S., and that
the word 'laborer 'should be pro
perly defined and not left to the
caprice of the Customs' officers ;
and they are certainly justified
in pretty drastic measures." It
is significant that fault is found,
not with the exclusion laws as
such, but with the manner of
the enforcement. The public

conscience was stirred consi-
derably in America, less than a
year ago, through the publicity
given to this question. It was
shown that Chinese merchants,
scholars, and travellers were
liable to insult and practical
imprisonment, as though they
were not only coolies but pro-
bable criminals. The sharp
order issued by the President
to the Customs' officers dis-
countenancing all such action,
is fresh in the minds of many,
but what stirred the public
conscience ? The menace to
the trade interests of the U. S. ,
through the boycott, was the
means of arousing the attention
of the people. Let us not
hastily infer that in our day the
conscience of a Christian nation
is best touched through the
pocket book !

•fcopctul

Considerable interest has
of late been roused in the East-
ern States by the
addresses of Rev.
Ng Poon - chew, a
very bright and scholarly Chi-
nese resident in San Francisco.
He has for some time ably
edited a daily paper there and
has worked diligently for a
better understanding between
his fellow-nationals and the
wlute race. A Washington
paper headed a review of his
speech before the Immigration
Conference with the compli-
mentary title, *' Unanswerable
Arguments from a Heathen ! ' '
which but proves the need
there was for his visit. A
hopeful fact is reported in late
papers : that as the result of

284

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

suggestions made by Dr. A.
H. Smith, President Elliot of
Harvard is arranging for a
number of scholarships for
Chinese youths, in the hope of
bringing about a better under-
standing between the two
nations. It is hoped that Yale
will provide similar induce-
ments, and that other univer-
sities and colleges may join in
thus inviting young Chinese
of promise to come to the U. S.
for education. The salutary
influence of such a movement
would be great, both in the
States and in China.

The remark quoted above,

regarding the organization of

^. , .^ , - the Chinese in

Cbinese IDaluc of , , tt c • r

^ ^ ^ . ' the U. S., IS of

(5ooD ©pinion. . . ' ,

great interest.

Chinese students are organizing
in earnest in Japan and in
Europe. One of the purposes of
their very effective organization
in France and Belgium is said
to be the bringing of their own
nationals into line, teaching
them the customs of the people
and enabling them to live on
a higher social plane, in order
to avoid there the stigma
which has rightly or wrongly
been fastened upon the Chi-
nese in the U. S. Chinese
who arrive in Europe, and
decline to live up to better
ideals, are not recognized by
the organization, and in many
cases are compelled to leave.
These facts all show a growing
appreciation on the part of the
Chinese of the value of the
good opinion of other nations
and the realization of the fact

that their good opinion must
be worked for to be won. The
Occident and the Orient, in
their introduction to one an-
other, have been the victims
of many misunderstandings.
It is time that the better
informed on both sides should
seek to promote mutual respect,
consideration, and trust.

An attempt in this direction
is explained on page 251.

Bttemptsat '^^^'^^IV^^^^^I,"^-
Barmonv "^^^ Sadler

we have had the
pleasure of perusing two of the
papers read on the occasion
referred to. It is evident that
the two meetings which were
held in Amoy afforded good
opportunities then and later on
of emphasizing the need of
forbearance, self-denial, dis-
interestedness, sympathy, con-
sideration and respect.

We would also draw atten-
tion to the address by Sir
Havilland de Sausmarez, print-
ed in the Christian Literature
Society report reviewed in our
Book Table department. Com-
ing to China at a time of ferment
the learned judge appreciates
the advisability of a willingness
and an attempt on the part
of Chinese anr" Westerners to
understand each other.

In this connection we note
with pleasure the new cover
with which the Juvenile Mis-
sionary Herald of the Bapt-
ist Missionary Society clothed
itself so as to be in keeping
with the senior paper of the
feame Society which began the
year in a new dress. In the

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

285

design we find girls and boys
of the East and West in the
happiest relationships to each
other, illustrating the fact that
all the girls and boys in the
world belong to one big family
and, therefore, we ought to
love them all and try to lead
them all to the Saviour who
died for them.

And we must not forget the
excellent service rendered by
all concerned in the banquet
to the Chinese Commissioners
in the Waldorf, Astoria, in
February. Many of our read-
ers will have seen the excellent
report of the addresses in the
New York Observer. We have
only space to quote the lines
uttered by Dr. A. J. Brown
in his eloquent address: —

" There is so much bad in the best
us,
And so much good in the worst

of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us."

That the Chinese as a nation
merit respect, consideration,
and trust from
W^estern nations,
seems to us not
only capable of proof, but in
the nature of a self-evident
proposition. The fact that
providence has held the nation
together through its many
vicissitudes, showing us the
unique spectacle of the most
ancient nation in the world
still virile and capable of
growth, is but one of many
reasons which should inspire
our respect. With all her
faults of government, with all
her superstition and ignor-

TReasotis tor
TRcspcct.

ance, China is regarded most
highly by those who know her
best ! As for consideration we
have no room for more than
a mention of the one reason
which prevents men of other
nationalities trom treating the
Chinese considerately, viz., the
refusal to recognize any duty
to our fellow-man. In its
grossest form it means that the
Chinaman, or African, or who-
ever the man may be, is less
than a man, is not my brother.
In its most sublimated form, it
is yet selfishness, which may
be as quickly shown and as
little excused in our dealings
with our own friends and rela-
tives.

But can we trust the Chi-
nese ? The answer may be
correctly obtained to this prob-
lem when we answer the
further one, Can the Chinese
trust us ? China is the despair
of the diplomatists of Europe,
for this reason, that the diplo-
matists of the West are the
despair of China, but there
have been a few statesmen
(write them large) who have
held the unqualified trust of
the Chinese government ; and
these, both American and Ikit-
ish, have stated, in no uncer-
tain terms, their trust in China.
In the very face of impending
I revolution, with the recollec-
tion of terrible massacres and
the possibility of more to come,
we dare to say that if Western-
ers prove themselves worthy of
trust, they will find a trusty
and trustful people among the
Chinese. If this is true of the
individuals, it will prove true
in the case of nations.

286

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

Our readers will be glad to
learn that Dr. Griffith John
Br.Orlffitb l^as sufficiently re-

aobn. covered from his
recent illness as
to be able to proceed home
on furlough, via the United
States. The home-going has
been so long and so frequently
postponed that a specially
warm welcome will be certain
to await him on his arrival.
We join with his many friends
in the earnest hope that he
will be fully restored to health
and be able to return to his

much-loved work in this land.
* * *

As during the last month or

two there has been more than

_ usual interest in

Jftonttepiece. P^H'"^, ^f. ?'^^

in the frontispiece

of this issue two representations
of a unique pagoda structure
arranged at the side of a hill
inside the grounds of the Sum-
mer Palace or '^I-ho-yuen.^'
Dr. Gilbert Reid kindly supplies
the following description : —

In the side view is seen a building —
a temple — at the top of the hill, which
is of older architecture, being left
uninjured after the occupation of
" Yuen-ming-yuen " in i860. The
other buildings are newer in construc-
tion and style. By ascending from
the lake step by step to the top one
is afforded different views of beautiful
scenery with Peking in the distance.
The whole structure is unique and
shows great architectural skill. It is
worth seeing (if you can).

:(: :<c :fc

We would call the attention
of our readers to the announce-
ment in our
advertising
columns re-
specting the carrying on of
the Missionary Home during
the short absence of Mr. and
Mrs. Evans. To those requir-

Zbc /BbfssionarB

ing such hospitable shelter as
the Home affords, or requir-
ing such help as the Agency
exists for, the arrangement
made will be very welcome,
and there is every assurance
that the sisters left in charge
temporarily will prove perfectly
worthy of their confidence, and
that the work will not suffer
by the absence of the heads on
a much needed and far too brief
holiday. May they return re-
freshed and strengthened to find
that the notice has been heartily
responded to by all their friends
on the mission field.

There are few more difficult
tasks carried on in the mission
field than that of a missionary
agency. Some years ago the
Sha7ighai Mercury published
a series of articles on mission-
ary characteristics, and we
remember that one of the
sections dealt with the unbusi-
ness-like missionary. We
have met with such ; in fact
we felt the writer may have
been describing ourselves.
When, in addition to the trying
traits catalogued then, we re-
member how easy it is to have
the recipient of a letter or
order legitimately take a
different meaning from what
the writer had in his mind, we
see how much reason we have
to commend the patience and
courtesy of Mr. and Mrs.
Evans and their co-workers.
We wish we could take space
to make clear the mysteries of
commission work, and how
much has been done for a very
little charge, but sufficient has
been said to indicate the obli-
gations the missionary body
are under to the friends of the
Missionary Home and Agency.

1906.]

Missionary News.

287

Missionary News.

Revival in Wonsan (Gen-
san), Korea.

In our March issue we quoted
from a letter of Dr. Moffett's
indicating times of blessing in
Korea. A member of the South-
ern Methodist Mission kindly
supplies the following interesting
particulars of the revival in
Wonsan. We hear that union
services were held simultan-
eously in every city in Korea,
beginning at the New Year time.

The revival services held in
Wonsan at the Korean New Year
were a marvellous manifestation
of the power and working of the
Holy Spirit. Our Methodist con-
gregation joined with the Pres-
byterians ; the services being held
in the commodious Presbyterian
church. During the progress of
the meeting it became evident
that a great deal of jealousy
existed between the two native
churches, which hindered the
working of the Spirit. This
feeling was so intense that on
more than one occasion it resulted
in most unbecoming conduct in
the church. It seemed as though
the evil one would gain a great
victory and our Master be put to
shame by reason of the sin and
unbelief of his people.

Such a condition bronght the
missionaries to their faces before
God and to a searching of our
own hearts, in order that we
might remove an\^ hindrance to
prevailing prayer. The principal
confusion in the church growing
out of the jealousy of the native
membership was displayed on the
second Sunday of the meeting,
and on the following day Dr.
H. preached a most powerful
sermon on sin, tracing to their

source in the carnal mind these
tempers that were being mani-
fested and disclosing by confes-
sion how the Spirit had shown
to him similar evil tempers in
his own heart. At the close of
this senMce Dr. H., overwhelmed
by a sense of the sinfulness of
the natural heart and under
powerful conviction for the sin
remaining in his own heart,
burst into convulsive crying
with tears, which continued for
perhaps more than an hour.
When he became quiet, in a
word of testimony before the
missionaries, he said that he had
then for the first time realized
the exceeding shame and guilt
of sin and what our Lord, who
knew no sin. had suffered when,
inithe Garden, He was made sin
for us and numbered with the
transgressors.

On the following Tuesday
morning Dr. H. preached from
Matthew xxvii 42, "He saved
others ; Himself He cannot save,"
showing that these words, spoken
in ridicule, were literally true of
Christ and of all who follow after
Him. Under this sermon Rev.
Mr. R., of the Presbyterian Mis-
sion, became powerfully convin-
ced that he did not have the mind
of Christ, but had largely followed
the leading of the carnal mind,
which is enmity against God.
Realizing this of himself, he also
realized that the jealousy, pride
and lack of love manifest in our
churches was also but the out-
working of this carnal mind, and
that all was really crucifying the
Son of God afresh. Under this
conviction he became so burdened
that for five days he scarcely
ceased to cry aloud to God on be-
half of his own and the people's

288

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

sins. Although. not a proficient
linguist, the Holy Spirit made
him His spokesman, and for
several days, out of an agonizing
heart, he appealed most effec-
tively both to the missionaries
and to the native church.

Each day conviction deepened,
and some came into the light,
but the great breaking up did
not occur until Saturday. Until
the service on Saturday morning
I had experienced no special
conviction and was altogether
mystified by what I saw that Dr.
H. , Mr. R. and some of the
others had experienced. When
Mr. R. came into the church
on Saturday morning he walked
to the desk, and without song
or prayer, began to speak to
the people. His words were :
" Brethren, we must to-day go
with Jesus to Geth.semane and
Calvary." The break upon the
congregatiou came with the ut-
terance of these words, and he
never, during the progress of the
service, got any further. Here
I can only speak of myself. In a
moment I was in tears. The
Holy Spirit revealed to me the
lonely Man in the Garden and I
saw, for the first time, a little
of what He had borne and
suffered for me and how exceed-
ing sinful was this carnal mind.
His enemy, which had nailed
Him to the Cross. After perhaps
an hour of agony and tears I
became composed, and on rising
I noted four of the lady mission-
aries still on their faces and,
judging from their testimony
later, passing through an ex-
perience somewhat similar to my
own.

There was much conviction
upon the people. Mr. R. seemed
dominated by the Holy Spirit
as, I think, I never saw a man
dominated before. One after
another, among the natives or

missionaries, would speak or
testify as the Spirit gave utter-
ance. The meeting closed at
about five o'clock, and there were
few who had not, by that time,
come into a deep realization of
sin and grace.

We met forpraj^er at Dr. H.'s,
continuing until about midnight.
The burden of our petitions was
for deliverance from the carnal
mind, which is enmity against
God. Mr. R. was the first to
receive assurance, and burst forth
into shouting. One after another
trusted for, and received in a
fuller measure the Holy Spirit,
our deliverer. The Holy Spirit's
incoming was attested to some of
us by a new revelation of Jesus
Himself in the heart. All praise
to Him who is able and does
make all grace to abound !

On the following day, which
was the Sabbath, after a sermon
by Dr. H. on the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit, we invited only such
to remain as were ready to wait
for the incoming of the Holy
Spirit. Perhaps more than one
hundred remained, and after a
few testimonies and words of in-
struction, we entered into a sea-
son of prayer. At first, one at
a time would offer prayer, but a
little later five or six would be
praying at the same time and
yet without the least confusion.
The meeting grew in power ; and
the assurance that the Spirit
Himself' was doing His work of
cleansing and filling hearts be-
came constantly stronger. The
prayers having been offered and
in most case.s — we trust in all —
God's power having been laid
hold upon, we closed at about
five o'clock. With the closing,
a wonderful spirit of praise came
upon the people. They burst
into song, and radiant faces, to-
gether with other physical visi-
ble demonstration, attested most

1906.]

Missionary News.

289

clearly their joy in the Holy
Ghost. Private conversation and
public testimony, since heard
from many, revealed that the
Spirit did even more than we
asked or thought. We give all
praise to God, for that He has
visited and revealed Himself to
us.

J. h. G.

Great Earthquake in
Formosa.

On 17th March, at 6.4oa.m.,
Central Formosa was visited by
a terrible earthquake. The
region most affected was about
five miles north of the city of
Ka-gi. Four towns — Sin-kang,
Ta-niau, Tao-pow-na and Moe-a-
khe — were almost entirely level-
led. The only houses left
standing are those built of
bamboo with thatched roofs.
All temples and other houses
built of brick or sun-dried mud-
bricks were thrown down. The
city of Ka-gi itself suffered
severely. Perhaps an eighth of
the houses and shops were
throw^n down, while all were
more or less damaged. The
streets presented a pitiful appear-
ance ; scarcely a house with
tiles on it, and the whole street
littered with beds, furniture and
so on. At least thirteen hundred
people were crushed to death by
falling houses, while several
thousands were more or less
injured. The Japanese authori-
ties deserve all praise for their
efforts to deal with the injured.
A large staff of doctors and
nurses were busy at work
attending to the injured in
temporary straw hospital huts.
Since the big earthquake of the
17th ult. smaller earthquakes
have taken place daily . At one
place near the foot of the hills it

is reported that the earth has
subsided and a lake formed about
two and half miles long. The
Emperor has contributed Yen
10,000 towards a fund which has
been opened for the relief of
the sufferers. -^ ^

The Present Outlook
at Amoy.

There have been no more out-
breaks in this region. Rev. H.
W. Oldham arrived safely in
Amoy some time ago under the
escort of thirty soldiers and three
officers (all Chinese), a sort of
royal entrance into this metropo-
lis, after his trying experiences
at Chang-poo (Chiu-pho) during
the riots.

The destruction done at Chiu-
pho was practically as re-
ported. But the looting and
vandalism was something fierce.
Everything moveable was either
carried away, or smashed to
smithereens. Entire floors were
ripped up, beams sawed off and
made away with. Doors and
windows were carried off bodily.
Walls, and even the roofs, were
punctuated with numerous holes,
just to show the insane passions
of the mob.

While all is quiet at present at
Chiu-pho, this does not seem to
be the situation in the villages
from three to five miles away.
The officials have been too slow
in following up the good work
t)f the Chiu-pho magistrate,
consequently the .surrounding
country has been left to take
care of itself. The "Fanners"
therefore have had sort of a free
hand organizing '* clubs " in
mau}^ villages and terrorizing
the people everj'where west of
Chiu-pho as far as Lam -sin.
The Boxers had to get out of
Chiu-pho, as things were too hot

290

The Chinese Recorder.

[May,

for them there. • While that was
good for Chiu-pho it did not bene-
fit other places just in the same
way. And on account of this
unsettled state of affairs the con-
ditions are far from the normal.

However the Chiang-chiu Tao-
tai has at last ordered the Peng-
ho official to send soldiers to
Go-che (where the leaders
make their head-quarters, five
miles west of Chiu-pho) and
seize these disturbers of the
peace and deliver them over to
him. Whether these "braves"
will be fooled as some others
were who were sent out by this
same official (if they go) , remains
to be seen. If seems that the
Peng-ho magistrate once before
sent out a detachment of jive
soldiers to investigate matters
around Go-che and I^am-sin.
They went, but the *' Fanners "
received them with open arms, so
to speak, and entertained them
royally. They were invited
in to see their exercises and some
other wonderful exhibitions.
The consequence was that instead
of *' taking in," these soldiers
were '* taken in. " The tables
were turned, for the}^ w^ent
around telling the people most
marvellous tales about how the
burning of their yellow paper
(by the ''Fanners") produced
a whole tia (jH/) of boiled rice
for them to eat and how by in-
dulging in some of their concocted
drinks they were able to speak
mandarin fluently.

It is most difficult to convince
the common people that these
"Fanners" do not possess the
powers they lay claim to. Even
others than the common people
partially believe at least in their
supernatural powers. It is far
easier for them to believe the
excuses they make about their
misfortunes than to disbelieve in
their absurd claims.

The loss of thirteen or fourteen
heads at Chiu-pho is quite an
item to be accounted for. But
whoever met a native at a loss
for an excuse of some kind. The
"Fanners" are not behind in
this matter. They persist in
asserting that those who were
so unfortunate as to lose their
heads at Chiu-pho were not true
Boxers, but only "hangers on."
If this is not satisfactory, and
some suspicions arise in regard
to the potency of their charms,
they meet this by saying they
have discovered a new charm,
concerning the efficacy of which
there cannot be the least doubt
about its making one absolutely
bullet proof. The old one was
yellow, the new one is green.
In either case probably nothing
more than a yellow, or green
piece of paper with some Chinese
character written on it, to be
applied externally or taken inter-
nally.

What is necessary now is for
the officials to take a very firm
stand and thoroughly punish the
leaders of this Society, other-
wise another outbreak may be
expected. All that is needed is
the occasion — a combination of
events — and the explosion will
follow. lyCt us hope that the
soldiers the Peng-ho magistrate
is sending, will not be take^i iji
this time.

P. W. Pitcher.

A7noy, March iy*.h, igo6.

Sunday School Work in
China.

BY REV. WM. C. WHITE, C.M.S.,
I^O-YAN, FOOCHOW

If the Sunday schools of our
home lands were obliterated, or
even if they reverted to a state
similar to our Sunday schools

1906.]

Missionary News.

291

here in China, it would not
require much foresight to pro-
phesy that the next generation of
Christians would be weaker and
smaller, and that it would be
nothing short of a calamity to
the Christian church. Godly
homes are accountable for many
of our home Christians, church
societies and Sunday services for
others, but if we could see with
unlimited vision, we should no
doubt find that the Sunday
school, with its teaching of Bible
truth to the impressionable minds
of youth, is the one great fount-
ain-head for the membership of
the church.

In some places in China we
are in the second generation
of Christians and bordering upon
the third. Is it the experience
of missionaries generally that the
children and grandchildren of
Christians are also in the church ?
We find it the case sometimes,
but it is not the rule. The
heathen environment has been
too strong for most of them, and
unless they have been taught in
mission or Sunday schools they
usually slip back into the dark-
ness, because of soul starvation
and the powers of evil.

When we scan the complicated
structure of missionary organiza-
tion in China, we cannot fail to
see the astonishingly small con-
sideration that is given to the
mission Sunday school. In some
centres, especially mission col-
leges, where there are foreigners
interested in the work and able
themselves to teach and superin-
tend the Sunday school, we find
some attempt being made to do
this important work, but it is
mostly dependent upon the in-
dividual missionary for initiative
and maintenance, and as far as
system and organization goes our
missions have been criminally slow
to further it. Our missionary

activity, outside of the purely
educational work, seems to be
centred mostly upon the grown-
up people, overlooking the fact
that youth is the accepted time
for religious instruction, and that
the child of to-day will be the
man of to-morrow. Our day
and boarding-schools do a great
deal for the children of Chris-
tians, but by no means can all
the children be taught in them,
and the systematised Sunday
school cannot but be the great
factor for the teaching of the
Bible not only to the children
of Christians but also of heathen.

There are many difficulties,
seemingly insuperable, for the
establishing of Sunday schools
in the little out-stations where no
foreigners can superintend and
guide them, but although we
may have to modify many of our
home methods to suit the local
conditions, yet there is no reason
why, with a united front, the
Protestant missions should not
bravely face this vital question.
There is the problem to be solved
of preparing the teachers ; teach-
ing them how to organize on
right methods, how to keep it
going, how 7iot to ' speak book,*
and how to teach the Bible.

Another problem is the right
courses of study for the different
conditions of Christian life in our
various stations. Then there is
the question of the conservation
of energy in the preparation of
the courses. Nearly every mis-
^sionary conference has at least
one or two members giving va-
luable time and energy to this
work. The International S. S.
Lesson Scheme, which, outside
of our colleges and strong centres,
is hardly suited for present day
Chinese Christianity, is about
the only course in general use ;
yet it is safe to say that upwards
of a score of missionaries are

292

The Chinese Recorder.

[May

separately engag^ed translating
these topics and iiotes.

With the above needs facing
us, a few missionaries talked the
matter over last summer at Ku-
liang. Definite resolutions, al-
ready published in the Re-
corder, were then passed by
a meeting of the missionary body,
organizing a Fuhkien Sunday
School Union, and a temporary
Executive Committee was ap-
pointed to take the matter in hand.
This Committee held one meeting,
at which a tentative constitution
was drawn up, when the secre-
tary, the Rev. J. Simester, was
called to rest from his labours.
After some delay the writer was
requested by the Committee to
take up the lines of work left
undone by our brother, and in
pursuance of this the present
article is written.

Although the Union is organ-
ized for Fuhkien only, the Com-
mittee hope that the missions
throughout China will co-oper-
ate and join wuth us to form a
Sunday School Union for China.
Protestant missions may not be
able to unite on a church organ-
ization, or even a theological
platform, but it would be a
shame and a cause for defeat
could we not unite upon this
Bible teaching platform of the
Sunday School Union. During
the summer there will be many
opportunities for the missionary
bodies at the various sanatoria
to discuss the question and take
action.

Amongst other things the work
that the Fuhkien Committee has
done or is doing, is as follows : —

1. Securing the official co-
operation of the different mis-
sions of the province.

2. Communicating, as far as
they are known, with the prin-
cipals of the theological colleges
throughout China, urging them

to include in their curricula
practical training in the organ-
ization and teaching of Sunday
schools.

3. Communicating with each
missionary in the province,
stating the objects and purposes
of the Union and asking for
co-operation.

4. The preparation of courses
of study suitable for the present
state of Christianity in China, to
begin 1907.

5. The preparation of a pam-
phlet in Chinese upon "Hints
on the Organization and Teach-
ing of Sunday Schools."

* CONSTITUTION OF THE SUNDAY
SCHOOI. UNION FOR FUHKIEN.

Art. I. Name.

The name of this organization shall
be 'The Sunday School Union for
Fuhkien Province.'

Art. 2. Object.

The object of this Union shall be
to prepare Courses of Study, Hints on
Organization and Teaching, etc. To
secure the preparation of Helps on the
Lessons, to prepare such Sunday
School literature as seems advisable,
and to further, as far as possible, the
Sunday School work in Fuhkien.

Art. 3. Organization.

The Union shall consist of all the
Missions working in the Province
which elect a representative on the
Executive Committee.

Art. 4. Executive Committee.

The executive power of the Union
shall be vested in an Executive
Committee, which shall consist of one
representative from each mission
(namely, -London Missionary Society,
American Reformed, English Presby-
terian, American Board, Church Mis-
sionary, and the Foochow and Hing-
hua Conferences of the Methodist
Episcopal Missions), and in addition
a Chairman from amongst the mission-
aries of the Province. Each represent-
ative shall serve until his successor is
appointed.

Art. S' Meetings.

The annual and other meetings
shall be held at such time and place
as the Committee may decide.

1906.]

Missionary News.

293

Art. 6. Amendments.

Amendments to this Constitution
may be proposed by any Mission
belonging to the Union and adopted
at any time by a majority vote of the
Foochow Missions for the North Fuh-
kien section, and of the Amoy Mis-
sions for the South Fuhkien section.

Canton Notes.

At the Annual Meeting of the
Canton Missionary Conference the
most important item of business was
the decision to take steps to form a
Prayer Union of all Christians, both
Chinese and foreigners, who promise
to unite in daily prayer for the com-
ing of the kingdom of God, especially
in the provinces of Kwongtung and
Kwongsai. The proposal was brought
forward some time ago by the Rev.
W. W. Clayson, who gave an account
of the blessing that had followed simi-
lar Unions in northern provinces.

Another important matter was
brought forward by Dr. Beattie, who
suggested that the time was now ripe
for steps to be taken by the missionary
body throughout China to approach
the Chinese government in order to
secure such an alteration of the official
regulations that a Christian could
hold office as an official without having
to conform to heathen observances.

The essay for the Conference was
by the Rev. J. J. Boggs, on '• Wulfila, a
Model Missionary," a very interest-
ing and suggestive study on a little-
known pioneer missionary whose
characteristic was that "he did all
things well.''''

The third annual Bible institute
for colporteurs, under the auspices
of the British and Foreign Bible
Society, has just been held here. The
total enrollment numbered twenty-
three, representing the B. and F. B. 8.,
Nat. B. S. of Scotland, the Book
Lending Society and several of the
missions. During ten days five hours
of each day were given to lectures
and reviews ; fourteen missionaries
and nine Chinese preachers giving ad-
dresses. Two lantern lectures proved
very helpful. Study of Bible charac-
ters and of special topics, such as
"Prayer," "Conversational Preach-
ing," etc., should produce good
results. The attendance and interest
manifested the value that the colpor-
teurs themselves place on the insti-
tute. Dr. Graves conducted a work-
ers' class at Wuchow simultaneously
with the institute at Canton, and

colporteurs at work in Kwongsai
attended there. The advantages of
this division are such that probably it
will be followed in the future.

A school of Bible-women and teach-
ers was also held during the month of
February. The meetings were an
inspiration to the women and also to
those who addressed them. The help-
fulness of such gatherings cannot be
overestimated.

On March 6th a new Presbyterian
chapel was opened in Taai-leung, the
chief city of the rich silk-producing
district of Shun-tak. This city was
noted during many years for its bitter
antagonism to the Gospel. About six
years ago the A. P. M. got a foothold
and began work in the house of a
Christian ; there being seven or eight
church members. This church, in the
house of one Mr. Loh, grew until the
same man was moved to build a
chapel in his garden at his own
expense. For some years this build-
ing has been altogether inadequate,
and on the above date a church was
opened, having seating accommoda-
tion for 450. The brethren bear |5,500
(Mex. ) of the cost, and during these
years the only foreign money expend-
ed has been for the salary of the
preacher for one year. The opening
meetings were very hearty, and Dr.
Beattie is to be congratulated on the
strength of this self-supporting church
and the beautiful and useful building
in which it now meets. The stone
walls of a Chinese city and the ignor-
ance and hatred of its inhabitants
cannot keep back the forward march
of our Lord and His army. So one
by one the walls of our Jerichos fall
down.

On the 2nd of March a large gather-
ing of missionaries assembled in tlie
Williams Hall to hear the Rev. T. W.
Pearce, of Hongkong, who had come
by invitation, to give an address on
*• Federation in Mission Work." Mr.
Pearce's account of his trip north
during the summer, of what he saw
of missionaries and mission work at
Pei-tai-ho, Peking, and Tungchau,
and especially of federated mission
work actually being carried on, was a
revelation to most of those present.
Coming as it did with eloquence and
conviction from Mr. Pearce's lips, it
was an inspiration for more practical
co-operation in our own work here.
Arrangements were made for a
committee to take the matter into
consideration with a view to further-
ing the cause of federation in this
province.

294

The Chinese Recorder.

[May, 1906.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

AT Chefoo, March i8th, to Rev. and
Mrs. Geo. CornwrlIv, A. P. M., a
son (George).

At Tuug-chwan-fu, Szechuen, March
19th, to Mr. and Mrs. Edward B.
Vardon, F. F. M. a., a daughter
(Vera Southall).

At Peking, the wife of Dr. J. E.
Stuckney, B. Sc, L. M. S., Hsiao-
chang, of a son (Francis Camp-
bell).

AT Shanghai, April loth, to Mr. and
Mrs. R. E. Lewis (Y. M. C. A.), a
daughter.

AT Ruling, April 24th, to Dr. and
Mrs. Edward H. Hume, Yale M.,
Chang-sha, a daughter (Charlotte
Elizabeth).

MARRIAGES.

AT Hankow, Heinrich WiTT and
Miss C. JEPSHN, both of C. I. M.

ATNingpo, April nth, Rcv-Harrison
K. Wright and Miss Edwina W.
Cunningham, both of A. P. M.

DEATHS.

AT Shanghai, April 7th, Dr. Mary
Gai,e, aged 65 years.

AT Ningpo, April 25th, Mrs. KaTE B.
Cunningham, mother of Mrs. H.
K. Wright., A. P. M., aged 59
years.

AT Kansas City, Mo., U. S. A.,
February 26th, Mr. Alexander
Williams, father of Mrs. Allen
Cameron, of Chang-sha, Hunan.
The funeral service was conducted
by the Rev. Dr. Reynolds, of the
Second Presbyterian Church, of
which Mr. Williams had for many
years been a member.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai : —

March 30th, Mrs. C. J. F. Symons
(ret.), Rev. W. and Mrs. Kitley (ret.),
Miss M. C. Knight (ret.), C. M. S.

March 31st, Miss M. H. PoRTER,
A. B. C. F. M., Peking (ret.).

April i6th. Miss J. W. Arpiainen
(ret.) from Finland, via U. S. A. ; Rev.
and Mrs. C. S. Keen, A. B. M. U.,
Kin-hwa; Miss Cornelia Bonnell,
Rescue Home, Shanghai (ret.) ; Miss
E. F. Lewis, m.d., for A. P. M., Pao-
ting-fu ; Mrs. G. Batcheller and
child, M. E. M., Foochow (ret.).

April 23rd, Rev. D. J. Robertson
and wife, U. F. Mission, Manchuria
(ret.) ; Mrs. A, Deane and child, for
Friends Mission.

DEPARTURES.

From An-ping, March 29th, Rev. D.
Ferguson, E. P. M. , Tai-nan, For-
mosa, for Scotland.

From Shanghai : —

March 19th, Miss Dora Cain, S, B.
C, Shanghai, for U. S. A.

April 2nd, Miss C. G. Ingram,
Wesleyan M. , for England.

April 5th, Dr. D. D. MuiR, wife
and three children, and Miss Howie,
U. F. M., for Scotland.

April i6th, E. and Mrs. Hunt, R.
and Mrs. Gillies, Miss F. L. Mor-
ris, for England, Miss A. E.
Ehrstrom, for Finland, all C. I. M. ;
Edward Evans, Missionary Home,
Shanghai, for U. S. A.

April 21st, G. F. and Mrs. Row and
three children, J. and Mrs. Palmer
and three children. Miss L. M. Cane,
Miss A. A. Davis, for England, Miss
M. SuTER, for Switzerland, all C.
I. M. ; Rev. and Mrs. E. C. Loben-
STINE and child, A. P. M. ; Mrs. E.
Box and three children, Dr. Grif-
fith John, Rev. and Mrs. C. G.
Sparham and child, all L. M. S. ;
Rev. and Mrs. J. WaiTE and three
children, A. P. M. ; Dr. C. S. F.
Lincoln, A. P. E. C. M., for U. S. A. ;
Rev. S. Tannkvist, wife and three
children, S. M. S. ; Rev. W. F.
Adams, wife and two children. Can.
M. M., for Canada; Rev. G. W.
Shepperd, wife and child, E. M. M.,
for England.

April 26th, Rev. and Mrs. E. F.
Tatum and daughter, S. B. C. ; Rev.
C. A. SalQUIST, a. B. M. U., and two
sons of Dr. H. L. CanriGhT, M. E. M. ;
Dr. M. D. Eubank, wife and four
children, A. B. M. U. ; Dr. and Mrs.
H. H. LoWRY, and Dr. J. H. Pyke,
M. E. M. ; Bishop and Mrs. Sellew,
F. M. E. M., for U. S. A. ; Mrs.
Philip and Miss Gardiner, C. M. S.,
for England ; Rev. Mason Wells,
wife aftid two children, A. P. M. , for
U. S. A.

April 30th, Dr. H. W. Boone, A. P.
E. C. M. , Shanghai ; Rev. and Mrs, A.
R. Kepler and two children, A. P. M. ,
Ningpo, for U. S. A.

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. JUNE, 1906. NO. 6.

Chinese Christianity.*

BY THK RIGHT RF.V. F. R. GRAVES, D.D.
NATIONAL CHARACTER.

AN hour's walk on the Shanghai Bund is a study in
anthropology. One watches the crowds as they pass to
and fro and sees an endless variety of humanity. There
are men of all the nations — men of Asia, Africa and Europe, of
every race and of every tongue. No wonder that we who live
here come to call ourselves cosmopolitans. As this crowd of
human beings passes by us, we are continually sorting and
arranging them into their several groups and classes, and we
perform this operation almost unconsciously, distinguishing the
different nationalities from each other. English, German,
Russian, Indian, Corean, Japanese, we say, classifying them by
the national type which we recognise at a glance. But the
outer and more obvious differences are but a symbol of inner
differences more deep and far reaching. Just as each nation
differs from the others in physical characteristics, so it is
distinguished by a number of mental and spiritual characteris-
tics which mark off its people, quite as distinctly as does their
outward appearance, from the men of other countries. These
mental and moral characteristics, each of which is the result of
ages of development acting upon the original capacities and
endowments of the race, taken all together, are what we speak
of as national character.

• A paper read by Bishop Graves before the Shanghai Missionary Association
at its meeting April 3rd, 1906.

296 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

I do not propose to analyse further this very complex
thing, composed of so many elements and slowly fashioned in
such various environments and under such different historical
conditions, but merely to bring out that there is such a thing as
national character. It is easier to feel than to describe, but it
is a fact which we all take into account. No one can be
brought into contact with men of another race, or even read
attentively their history and literature without recognising
something of the type of character which the nation or race
presents.

CHRISTIANITY AFFECTED BY NATIONAL CHARACTER.

We shall readily admit that this national character pro-
foundly impresses itself upon the social and political institutions
of a nation as well as upon its art and literature and music.
It is only what we should expect, therefore, to find that it affects
religion no less deeply. Most religions never pass beyond the
country where they have their origin, but Christianity, the
world religion, has passed from land to land and established
itself amongst men of every race. As we watch its progress
through the centuries we note that when it becomes the religion
of any people it becomes influenced more or less deeply by the
national character of that people. It is not that Christianity
itself changes and becomes something other than it was. The
great facts upon which it is based and the great doctrines which
are the logical explanation of those facts remain as true in the
twentieth century as in the first, but national character comes
in many ways to modify the inward conception and the outward
form of religion. Emphasis is laid more strongly upon one
side of a doctrine than upon another ; either the moral, the
intellectual, or the spiritual side of Christian life is most insisted
upon, while there is a wide area for adaptation in the outward
expression of religion in worship, as the national temper
demands more or less of form and ceremony to express itself.
History furnishes us with instances of this process. Judaic
Christianity, though it existed but for a biief period, was of a
well defined type. It laid special stress on the doctrine of the
Messiah and of the Kingdom of God. Its thought was expressed
very largely in the forms of the Old Testament and it empha-
sised above all else the thought of God. Greek Christianity
dwelt more on Man. Its effort was to reconcile the truths of
science and philosophy with the truths of Christianity. Our

(

I

1906.] Chinese Christianity. 297

conception of our religion as the Truth, and our inheritance
of a clear theology are largely due to the Greeks. Latin Chris-
tianity, on the other hand, cared less for speculation, and was
practical in its bent. It carried the old Roman idea of Law
into the sphere of religion and developed the great thought
of the Church as the Kingdom of God. The thought of
order is carried out in canon law, and forms of worship, and
in a regulated and uniform ritual. What we may call Teutonic
Christianity differs widely in type from all of these. It is much
concerned with the individual and his moral and spiritual
relations with God and with his fellow-men. I hope I shall not
be considered as refining too much when I say that within
Teutonic Christianity itself there are clearly marked types.
German theology, for instance, containing more of the mystical
element, while English theology is greatly influenced by con-
siderations of the application of theology to practical life, and
American theology is eclectic, impatient of tradition, and apt to
try short cuts in the solution of problems.

It has not been possible to do more than indicate the chief
differences between the various types of Christianity and to
ascribe them very largely to national character. So much,
however, it seemed necessary to do as an introduction to the
subject of Chinese Christianity.

CHINESE CHRISTIANITY.

I would say at once that by ** Chinese Christianity** I do
not mean what is sometimes spoken of under that title. We
have all of us heard disquisitions about the need for an
*' Oriental Christ,'* and there is an idea abroad amongst the
Chinese both within and without the Church, that it is possible
for them to select what they like from Christianity and reject
the rest, and then on the basis of what they have selected,
build up a structure which will be Chinese pure and simple. It
is neither thoughtful nor revfrent, it seems to me, to speak
of an oriental or an occidental Christ, and it is also plain that
to build on any other foundation than historical Christianity
would be to produce something which might be Chinese but
would have slender claim to be called Christian. One fears
that it might contain something approaching the vision which
an old friend of mine used to conjure up when we conversed
on this subject. " The Chinese idea of Christianity," he used
to exclaim, * * would be to have a great temple with the

298 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

Emperor on a throne at one end and the clergy crawling
up the aisles on their hands and knees." Let us hope it would
not be as bad as that, but still the idea of *' China for the
Chinese" as expounded ^nowadays by students who have spent
six months in Japan contains some grotesque possibilities if it
should be translated into the sphere of religion.

Ireaving such speculations on one side, let us take it for
granted that the Chinese are much like other men and do not
need a special religion any more than they need a special arm
or a special eye. Let us assume that, as all the Christianity
in this Empire is of one or the other type of historical Chris-
tianity, this is the Christianity which the Chinese will accept
if they accept any. We can then turn to the inquiry as to how
and in what directions Chinese national character is likely
to modify the Christianity thus received. A Christianity
spun out of Chinese brains, and having no more connection
with the historical religion than a spider web which hangs
from the wall by a thread or two, is of little interest, but
it would be well for us to give more thought than we do
to the question of the ways in which Chinese character will
afifect Christianity and what the extent of such modification is
likely to be.

CHINESE CHARACTER.

I shall not attempt to give a minute account of Chinese
national character, but, keeping our purpose in mind, I will
try to bring out certain broad and well-defined traits which
are found in this people in the past and in the present, and
are, therefore, likely to persist in the future. They repre-
sent tendencies which will continue to flow strongly under the
surface, however much that may be affected by superficial
changes.

(a). The Chinese are eminently a practical people. They
look to the uses of things, and reduce everything to the value
of its actual results. They have been little given to abstruse
speculations as to the origin and nature of things; the '*Yin
and Yang" has been for them the all-sufficing explanation
of the universe which no one seems ever to have seriously
questioned. Religion has been to them not a matter between
the soul and God, nor a question of the claims of revealed truth,
nor an allegiance to ecclesiastical institutions. It is largely
summed up in duty to the family, duty to the State, and duty

1906.] Chinese Christianity. 299

towards ancestors. The elements of awe and mystery, the deep
search for truth and the warmth of religious emotion are almost
lacking. Nowhere in the Empire is there a shrine which is
capable of arousing a sentiment of reverence or veneration
except the altar of heaven at Peking under the open sky.
Yet we must approve the practical quality of Chinese thought
in that it has kept them close to fact and led them to connect
religion and everyday life. What we deplore is the strong
tendency to materialism, the lack of depth and loftiness in
religious thought, and the failure to transfuse religion with the
warmth of devotion.

{b). The Chinese are formal. They are a nation in which
custom reigns supreme. They value rule and form and ritual
both in social life and in religious ceremonies. The complicated
etiquette of Chinese social life embarrasses and perplexes us, yet
we cannot fail to see its power to regulate society, and to note
how completely it succeeds in securing the submission of the
individual. The stable quality of Chinese character, law-abid-
ing, tenacious of tradition and changing slowly under new
influences, comes largely from this tendency toward the regular
and formal. The defect of this habit of mind is, however, very
evident, in that it tends to lifeless formalism and the adherence
to custom without truth. Whatever its defects may be, there
is no question that it marks strongly and unmistakeably all
Chinese life and history. They are as much the people of form
and propriety (Li) as the Greeks were the people of Art and the
Romans the people of Law.

{c). It follows from the practical tendency of Chinese
thought that they emphasise the moral rather than the in-
tellectual or the spiritual. They have accepted from the past
certain moral principles which are to them the foundation of all
else, and their history and literature are largely the working
out of these principles. The range of these principles is limited
and the warmth of spiritual fire do^ not burn in them, but this
limited range makes them easily comprehensible, and the Chinese
have certainly succeeded in getting them accepted by the whole
population so far as theory goes. Every coolie can talk to you
of filial piety and tell you something of the five constant virtues.
They are a strong influence upon the lives of millions of people,
and in Chinese history we meet again and again with men
who have held fast by these principles in the face of disgrace
and death.

300 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

{d). The Chinese are social. No people has the faculty
for association more strongly developed. They unite in the
family, the clan and the state ; they are allied by manifold
bonds in associations, guilds and trade-unions. The irrepressi-
ble desire to amalgamate even overflows its banks and finds an
outlet in the numerous secret societies which are such a plague
to the Government and curse to all law-abiding citizens. Union
is admirable, but the Chinese pay a heavy price for it. Person-
ality is of small account, and the individual is compelled to
fall in with the majority and sacrifice his own convictions.
It is amazing to see how the rights of the individual are ignored
and the claims of personality set aside. This is to men of our
race the last and worst of tyrannies. Yet we cannot withhold
our admiration when we see how strongly and smoothly the
system works, and note the cohesive power which binds this
mass of men each to his own centre while it holds the various
groups together by its attractive force.

PROBABLE EFFECTS UPON CHRISTIANITY.

These four strong characteristics are marks of Chinese
character which we can accept as practically universal. Chinese
national character is practical, formal, moral and social in a
high degree. It is in these directions, then, that we are likely
to find the probable modifications which will make of Chris-
tianity in China a distinctively Chinese Christianity. It is a
far more difficult matter to form an estimate of what will be the
range of their influence and of the amount of force which they
will severally exert in bringing about the great result. I think,
however, that we may safely say that something like the
following will be the general line of development. The prac-
tical quality in the Chinese mind will estimate Christianity by
its effects, as a system capable of producing works of philan-
thropy, as having an application to family life and daily
affairs, and as a help to good government. At the same time
it wall be apt to blur theological distinctions, so that Chinese
theology is not likely to be broadly based intellectually nor
thought out logically and is likely to lack almost wholly the
mystical element.

The formal element will be sure to express itself in services
soberly ordered and in a carefully regulated ritual. Respect for
tradition and custom will be of great value too in holding the
Christians to the faith which they have learned and in securing

1906.] Chinese Christianity. 301

the unimpaired transmission of the deposit of Christian doctrine.
It is largely to this quality, as has been noted above, that
Chinese stability is due. What keeps them steadfast is respect
for law and order ; obedience to custom rather than unswerving
adherence to intellectual conviction. The danger is near at
hand, however, that Chinese Christianity will tend to become
formal and mechanical.

It is well that the moral element should be emphasised, but
the danger is that the spiritual side of things will be obscured,
that there will be a lack of warm feeling and of devotional life.
If the tendency to see all things from the moral side should
depress spiritual impulses it would be the greatest misfortune
that could befall Chinese Christianity. And yet, here is where
one cannot but feel that the danger chiefly lies. It is some-
thing over which I have often pondered with many misgivings
that it is exceedingly difficult to stir the devotional nature * of
the Chinese. It has struck me very forcibly that Chinese
Christians appear to make far less use of the Psalms than they
do of the historical books of the Bible and the Epistles of St.
Paul. I have repeatedly tried to induce educated Chinese
Christians to read the Imitation of Christ, the noblest devotional
book which the Church has produced. I have tried in turn
both the English version and those in Chinese in the classical
style and in mandarin, but I have never seen any indication
that the book was felt to be specially interesting or that it was
adopted as a valuable aid to the devotional life. But if the
Psalms and the Imitation do not appeal with power to Chinese
hearts it must be from some inherent defect or lack in the
Chinese character which is the cause why they fail to touch the
springs which they touch so universally in the hearts of men
throughout the Christian world. Nothing would be a greater
relief to me than to find that my own observation was not
borne out by that of others, for if it is true to fact it implies a
serious lack in Chinese religion. .

When we come to the social side of Chinese character
the way in which it will work is clearer than that of any
of the other three characteristics which I have named. The
Chinese Church will be a Church of countless organizations,
such as burial clubs, benevolent associations, guilds and the
like. Indeed these organizations exist already outside of the

*By •• devotional nature " is meant something far deeper than " emotional
nature ".

302 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

Cburcli and only require the Christianizing of the motive
to make them valuable auxiliaries in Christian work.
Taking into account the strength of the social element in
Chinese character, it is apparent that Chinese Christianity
will not be solely a matter of the individual conscience, but
will develop itself through that greatest and most universal
of all associations — the Christian Church, and we may well
believe that Christian principles working in their turn upon
Chinese character will secure the due rights of personality
and give the individual soul a new value in the eyes of this
people.

OTHER QUALITIES.

I hope you will understand that I have not been attempting
to give a complete account of Chinese character, but only to
sketch the salient points, and that I have not been laying down
what must necessarily take place, but only estimating probabil-
ities, which is all we can hope to do in so complex a question
where the results lie in the future and are liable to be modified
in so many ways by facts of which we cannot take account
and influences which though not strong at present may develop
in time into importance. Let us cast a glance at one or two
of these. Imagination, which appears to a very active part
of the Chinese mind, judging by their poetry, novels, and fairy
tales, will be at work, we may be sure, to correct the material-
istic bias which is the fault of the practical temper. The
popular persuasion, of a life after death, which appears in so
many perverted forms and yet has been strong enough to
withstand the scepticism of the scholar class, if once purified
from superstition, would exert a powerful influence upon the
form of Chinese Christianity, bringing the world of the departed
nearer to the world of the living and emphasising the oneness
of Christians who have gone before with the Church militant
here on earth. At present the belief in immortality is crude,
vague, and superstitious, but it contains the germs of better
things.

The only other quality I shall mention is the capacity for
self-renunciation. The world has united to put down the
Chinese as selfish and calculating, and we are too apt to accept
the verdict and justify it from our own experience of the
untrustworthy builder and the grasping cook. But there exists,
nevertheless, in Chinese nature a capacity for self-renunciation

1906.] Chinese Christianity. 503

which is rarely suspected. It appears already in the Classics
in the sacrifice of T'ang ; it is an accepted principle in the
school of Confucius, and it has survived in a succession of
scholars who have held fast to the love of learning and the
practice of morality in difficult times and in the midst of
neglect and poverty. It comes to light in the final chapters
of the Hung Lou Mung, where least you would expect it, and
it forms the motive of that strange allegory — the Journey to the
West. There are countless tales of men who have wearied
of the world and its vanities and forsaken it for a life in some
mountain hermitage. It has been sufficiently strong, even in
this land of the social relations, to tear away the individual
from the bonds which held him to the family and the state
and send him out in quest of an ideal. This is a quality of
which we seldom think, and which the Chinese themselves
do not greatly value, since it runs counter to three at least of
the national characteristics which I have indicated above — the
practical, the formal, and the social habits of life — but I
confidently believe that, once the Christian ideal has been fully
grasped, there will be a strong response to it from this side
of Chinese character.

SUMMARY.

Your own experience as missionaries will tell you whether
I have given you a true presentation of the facts concerning
Chinese character. You can readily verify what I have said
by reference to things as they are now in Christian mission
work, which is the beginning of Chinese Christianity. It is
a significant fact that our Chinese Christians are little inter-
ested in the intellectual bearings of religion, that in the last
century there has not been produced by a Chinese Christian
a single work which is of conspicuous merit as a defence
of Christianity or an exposition of its principles, though
there exist many tracts which treat of separate points of
doctrine or expound some of the moral teachings of our
religion. That points, surely, to the workings of the practical
mind. We all recognise the moral qualities of the Chinese
Christians in spite of all that is said of untrustworthy ones,
and gladly acknowledge how steadfast they have been under
persecution even unto death. Their inclination toward union
and combination is too well marked in every way to esopne
observation.

304 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

The views which I have presented are the result of my
own reading, observation and experience over a period of nearly
twenty-five years, and, owing to the limits of a paper of this
kind, I have not attempted to compare my own conclusions with
those of others or to fortify them by quotations from Chinese
authors, so that I have given you the conclusions at which I
have arrived and not the route by which I have travelled in
order to arrive at them.

If I am right in the main in this sketch of Chinese charac-
ter and in the estimate of the probable effect upon Christianity
when it shall have become the prevailing religion, the type which
Chinese Christianity will present will be as unlike as possible
to either Judaic or Greek Christianity, but will have a good
deal in common with Latin Christianity in its feeling for law
and custom, and also with English Christianity in its common-
sense and hold on every-day life, and I may add, in its tendency
to compromises in the region of theology. It is sure to be a
hardy and lasting type and to have a large part to play in
the world.

I wish that I could follow out the subject from another
point of view and deal with what is, after all, the larger
part of the question, the influence of Christianity upon
Chinese character. It would be interesting to follow out the
process by which Chinese character will be modified by
religion, how it will be purified, strengthened and perfected
by the silent and steady influence of Christian ideals. But I
leave this part of the subject untouched with the less regret,
because it is not so much a matter of interesting speculation
as to what may come to pass, as a matter of direct observation
of what is going on under our own eyes. You are all of
you witnesses of the wonderful way in which God's grace
regenerates and transforms the lives of Chinese Christians,
and the effects which Christianity works in individuals are
the index of what it must accomplish more slowly in the
wider field of national life. And so these wonderful forces
will go on working silently and unperceived, acting and
interacting, until Chinese Christianity shall take its full place
in that wonderful harmony in which all types are blended
which is gradually being wrought out by what St. Paul calls
the iroXvTroiKiXo'^ tro^ta, the manifold, or many-hued wisdom
of God.

1906.] The Question of Union. 305

The Question of Union.
I. A General Statement.

BY REV. J. B. COCHRAN, A. P. M., HWAI-YUEN.

THAT the movement toward a closer union of the different
Protestant churches has become more rapid in more
recent years, can admit of no dispute. The Young
Men^s Christian Association, the Student Volunteer Movement,
the Young Peoples' Society of Christian Endeavor, the Church
of Christ in Japan, the Federation of American Churches, the
Chinese Christian Union, with all the diflferent union schools,
colleges and theological seminaries, present a formidable array.

But let us not be alarmed at the rapidity of motion if only
we are going in the right direction. Nor is the motion so rapid
that we have cause to be alarmed. Nineteen hundred years
since the prayer of Christ that we may all be one, and we fear
that a movement toward union may be too precipitate ! There
was once an old woman who had her doubts of the Bible
promises. To put one of them to the test she prayed with great
fervency, *' May yon mountain be removed and cast into the
sea." Opening her eyes she expressed her satisfaction with the
result, *' There! I knew it would never budge!" Let us not
take the attitude of unbelief, nor allow ourselves to be greatly
disappointed when our prayers are answered, even if they
are answered more quickly than we had expected.

What is this "Union'' toward which we are hastening
so rapidly ? Unity, union, uniformity, each has its own
meaning, and distinguishing between them will clarify our
thinking. Of unity we already have a very good beginning.
Unity of aim we had on coming to China, burning to save this
people through the Gospel of Christ. Unity of spirit we have
developed by seeing men of other creeds deriving their zeal,
their earnestness, their self-sacriflbe, their spirituality from the
same spirit w^ho is the source of all our strength, "the Spirit
of Truth whom the world cannot receive." " The Holy Spirit
fell on them even as on us." Unity of sympathy has come to
us because we share the same trials, the same failures, the same
disappointments, the same persecution. Gradually the unity
of our aim, of our sympathy and of our spirit, having been
strengthened by private conversation and public conference, we

306 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

are brought face, to face with the question of unity in our labors,
the unity of co-operation, that is * visible union. '

In what form does this question of union come before us ?
First, The Union of Church Organization in All Bodies
of Similar Creeds.

The division of these bodies arose, for the most part, from
geographical separation or from such diflferences in belief as
they now regard of minor consideration or on which they
now see eye to eye. Is it right to carry into the Chinese church
divisions arising from geographical situation and dead issues ?
Are we striving to create a Scotch or an Irish Manchurian, an
English Fukienese, an American Cantonese ? Do we desire to
hinder the development of Christian brotherhood among our
converts by beliefs which we consider of minor importance ?
Thank God that so many of our old prejudices are being
removed, while our similarity of creed and Christian brother-
hood are drawing us near together, so that we may hope for
closer union.

Seco7idly. There is a Union of Division — the division of
territory.

You and we are working in the same territory. The
number of workers we have in the field you know. In the
next few years we hope for so many more. What are your
prospects ? What part of the field should you take and what
part should be for us, so as to attain our common end with the
least possible waste of energy and time ?

Thirdly. Union in Educational Work.
It is in this branch of the work that there would be the
greatest economy, both in workers and in funds, could our plans
for union be carried out. Where there are bodies of similar
creeds working in the same city, why should not our schools,
colleges and theological seminaries be united ? Nay more !
What is to prevent our unity in educational work with men of
other creeds ? Is it not a fact that at the present time many of
our denominational colleges in America, while maintaining
their high Christian standards, minimize rather than emphasize
the fact that they are representative of a particular denomina-
tion ? It is possible to give a true Christian education in a
school that is not denominational. It is possible that the
students of a union school should graduate with warmer feelings
of loyalty to that form of religious conviction with which they
first entered, but with a wider sympathy for those whose views

1906.] The Question of Union. 307

are not in every particular the same. It is possible even in a
theological seminary to teach in common those beliefs which
are held in common and to make other provision for teaching
those beliefs about which there is a difference of opinion ?

Fourthly. The Union in One Church Organization of all
Denominations of the Protestant Body who are willing to enter.

This, I take it, is the object of the Commitee on Federation
of Chinese Churches. **This is not a question of uniting
missions but of joining native churches. '' * The divisions of
our Protestant churches arose, for the most part, as a protest
against an erroneous creed or mistaken emphasis, or as a defence
of a truth inadequately expressed. Why trouble our Chinese
Christians with the protest before they have heard of the error ?
Why not more adequately express the different sides of truth by
uniting those bodies which look at the truth from different
standpoints ? Our plan is for union, not for uniformity. There
are times when uniformity is the handmaid of union, as when
we agree upon a set of terms to be used by all in designating
God and the Holy Spirit. There are times when uniformity is
far from desirable, because it would try to overrule a man's
private judgment in matters which he considers vital. It is
essential that the minister of Christ should hold with unswerv-
ing fidelity the truth he has received, yet he may fight under
a standard inscribed only with what he considers most vital.
Uniformity in every detail of belief is impossible, for it would
proscribe individuality. We can have union without uniformity.
We can join against a common enemy with those who are
fighting in the same cause with us, though the minor articles of
their creed may differ from ours. Separateness from the world
is a mark of Jesus* disciples. Is separateness from one another
a mark of such discipleship ? Let no one think that by uniting
himself with other followers of Christ in Christian service he
proves faithless to the truth that is in him. He is to alter
not one jot or one tittle of his {:onvictions but to hold them
inside the Union Church and not outside, a position where he is
at better advantage to influence his brethren. Yet he is to hold
those truths with all Christian courtes3\

But what are the advantages of union ? If we but look
upon the enemy with whom we all contend the need is plain.
The forces of the enemy require that we waste no strength. The
battle is on and fiercely is it waged. We need every advantage

* Rev. George T. Candlin at the Conference on Federation in Peking.

308 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

in the economy of men and of supplies. Thank God we are
no longer fighting one another ; but alas ! we have not yet a
united front. Our Captain is the same. Why not follow Him
together ?

Yet there is a stronger reason for our careful consideration
of this question than the advantage to our work. It is the
prayer of our Master that we should all be one ; the develop-
ment of Christianity in our age has brought us face to face
with the question of a closer 'visible union.' Is not the only
question to be asked, " Does this union bring us nearer to the
ideal of our Savior ? " None of our denominational ties are so
strong as the tie of love to Him, and no other desire so strong as
the desire to do His will.

The lines of union suggested above probably do not exhaust
the category, nor are they mutually exclusive. To me it would
seem that were all of them adopted it would bring us nearer to
the answer of our Master's prayer ; but I have no quarrel with
him who cannot agree to all. I would gladly work with him
who was striving but for one. It must always be kept in mind
that unity is the forerunner and union must follow. A union
that is forced is not worth having. So let us continue our
former methods of Christian fellowship and Christian conference,
so that with an increasingly better understanding of one another
and a growing Christian love, our Christian unity may bear its
natural fruit in Christian union.

II. A Possible Plan.

BY RKV. A. SYDENSTRICKER, S. P. M., CHINEIANG.

WHILE the subject is '' up " and '' union is in the air,"
it is certainly wise to look at it fairly and directly
from all points of view. For one thing, it is certain
that a forced uniformity is the worst sort of union — worse than
no union at all.

For another thing, a union based on compromise — be it the
*' Term Question," or any other sort of question, is not going
to be satisfactory. People, especially Christian people, are
loth to give up anything they conscientiously believe, and
they should not be asked to give it up.

It seems to the writer, and he has thought a good while
and carefully on the subject, that union should be, and perhaps

1906.] The Question of Union. 309

could be, effected along another line. Let us look for a moment
at the different denominations of evangelical Christians. The
following propositions hold true in general of them all and of
each one in particular : —

1. There is no one denomination that has the whole truth
and nothing but the truth as contained in the Bible.

2. Every denomination has some errors and defects in
belief and in church govermnent.

3. Every denomination has some truth, or emphasizes
some truth, that the others have not, or hold too lightly.

4. Every and all the evangelical denominations have and
hold to the essentials of saving truth.

Now if the above propositions are true, it naturally will
occur to anyone : Why not unite — so far as need be — on what
we all hold in common^ the essentials^ and let our differences
— the non-essentials — alone ? We can never hope to be all
of the same opinion. This is an impossibility. Nor can
anyone reasonably hope that all Christians will finally come
to think and believe on all points just as he does, that all
the denominations will finally merge into his. Let that
which we as evangelical Christians all hold in common^
that is, the essentials of salvation^ be the basis of a common
union.

Unfortunately different denominations and sects of Christians
may often emphasize their peculiarities into far greater promin-
ence than they should hold, and some sects go to the extreme of
** un-churching '* all that do not believe as they do! It goes
without the saying that this is all wrong, contrary to the
teaching of both Christ and His apostles.

Read Romans, chapter 14, and First Corinthians, chapter 12.
What are some of the lessons that we may learn from these
chapters ?

1. That in the body of Christ there is almost endless and
infinite variety. Even among tl^ apostles there were no two
of them alike in all respects.

2. Yet all this variety entered into and constituted o?te
body.

3. So long as a man is a gemiine Christiaii^ a. believer in,
and servant of, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have no right to judge
him or to ''set him at nought," because he conscientiously
differs from us in minor and non-essential details of faith and
practice.

310 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

Different denominations are the expressions of different
sides and aspects of Christian truth, and we must confess — often
exaggerations of non-essentials.

4. We are further taught here that the bond of love that
should unite all believers ignores these differences in union
points. What two brothers in the same family are ever precisely-
alike in all respects ? Are they any the less brothers, any the
less members of the same family because in many respects they
differ ? If we sincerely believe in the Savior and obey Him con-
scientiously. He does not require us to be all cast in the same
mold in details. Do we need different denominations ? This
we shall not attempt to answer, but we say that denominational
differences in the church of Christ should certainly be minimized
and that there should be such a strong and such a visible bond
of union between us that our essential unity could not be doubted
and *^that the world may believe '^ in the divine mission of the
Savior.

III. Some Objections.

BY REV. R. M. MATEER, A. P. M. , WEI-HSIEN.

IT has been the cherished desire of the writer to spend a
summer at Pei-tai-ho ; but the issuing from thence of so
many resolutions and urgent appeals has cooled his ardor.
There is nothing restful nor satisfying in the attempt to crowd
uniformity upon the church in China forgetful of the fact that
in the realm of grace as well as of nature uniformity means
death.

ist. The proposed union hymn book. An examination
of this book makes it plain that the urging of it for adoption in
our church in this district is a waste of breath. We have our
hymn book which approximates the language of the people,
thereby enabling them to sing with the spirit and with the
understanding ; and we are not likely to turn our faces toward
the dark ages by trying to sing in a dead language. The
free use of Wen-li words and expressions in many of the union
hymns makes them unintelligible to the average church member.
People are coming into the church too fast to teach them Wen-li
as a preparation for edifying worship. We have many revival
meetings during each year in which we often have solos sung
with great impressiveness. Wen-li hymns sung in this way
would be a flat failure because, in order to success, the audience

1906.] The Question of Union. 3II

must understand every word. Any hymn that cannot be thus
used should be thrown into the waste-basket or made over.
Mr. Alexander, the first religious music leader of the day, when
asked why he did not use hymns and music of a higher order,
replied that, when he found that God used them to move and
save men, he would do so. No language in all literature is
simpler than that of our Savior. The modern poet that is most
popular on both sides of the iVtlantic is the one who used the
simplest language.

Is there much, after all, in the claim that it is easier to write
a good hymn in Wen-li than in Mandarin ? Are not the words
in both the spoken and written language required as much as
possible to occupy their appointed places ? Linguistic jugglery
may seem to succeed better in the Wen-li, because it is not so
generally known, but to those who are trained in its use, is not
the jarring quite as painful ? Even if Wen-li hymns were more
satisfactory from an artistic standpoint, still a live dog is better
than a dead lion. Paul said that he would rather speak five
words with his understanding that by his voice he might teach
others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. The
colloquial will doubtless become gradually more dignified ; but
the hymns that will live and breathe forth the devotions of
China's millions will be in the language of the people. There
may indeed be others who think this union book too colloquial ;
but this would simply emphasize the impracticability of a union
book.

2nd. The names of churches a7id street chapels now urged
for tmiforjn adoption. Fu Yin T'ang, proposed for street
chapel, would mean nothing to a stranger unless it be a place to
get good news as to how to make a good bargain. In various
county seats we have street chapels, to which we attach the
name Jesus Church Hall (HP ^ li ^. ) This being best known,
gives a better idea than any other of what is the purpose of the
place. Sign-boards preach, and we are here to preach Jesus in
in the way we think best calculated to make him known to
every one.

Again as to the names of church buildings. We are in-
finitely more concerned to have the lives of our people made
suitable epistles known and read of all than as to the name of
the building in which they meet. We take little notice of their
free use of different names, thinking that the fittest will survive,
that wheu they take charge of the x:hurch they will fix their

312 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

own nomenclature. In speaking of their congregational build-
ings they generally say Hwei T'ang, though Kiang Shii T'ang
and Li Pai T'ang are also used. Inside of the building they use
various names and mottoes according to their preferences just
as people do in the West in the naming of their churches.
Why not? Li Pai T'ang is the Catholic term used for a
building where service is held exalting the worship and mini-
mizing the preaching. They doubtless took the name from
that of the Mohammedan mosques, in which of course there is
no preaching nor teaching. The Kiang Shii T'ang suggests
the Protestant fundamental element of instruction, while Hwei
T'ang is colorless concerning this great historical cleavage.
Just as well attempt to impose the same name upon every
church building in the West. Rather let us spend our strength
in trying to get as many people as possible in out of the
cold world.

3rd. Pei-tai-ho proposes to do violence to the history
and practise of a hundred years by changing the name of the
Protestant church, and that too without any solid reason except
that the ear of the foreigner is trained to the use of ' ' Chris-
tian ' ' based on Christ not on Jesus, Christianity was so named
to differentiate the church from the Jewish church ; but not by
any urging or voting on the part of the church itself any more
than the name of Jesus church in China. The latter has
decided advantages on its own merits quite aside from the
fact of its established usage. It is much easier to explain its
meaning ; moreover it embodies in it the name of the church's
Founder when on earth ; and we are told that it is the name
at which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess in
heaven and in earth. Yes, brethren, allow Ki Tu Kiao to stand
as the generic name indicating the Greek, Roman Catholic and
Protestant churches for which it is needed, as in the West ;
while Jesus church fittingly represents the Protestant church.
Thus we have the full equipment of terminology without doing
violence to, or ignoring any of, the facts, either past or present.

It is worthy of note, in passing, that the proposed name for
the projected Union Protestant church in Korea is the Jesus
Church.

4th. The tej^mfor God. Is it wise or in accordance with
the spirit of Christian comity to force out of the Bible entirely
the term which expresses the conviction of a considerable
painority ; and, instead, force upon them a term which they

1906.] Bible and Tract Distribution to Japanese Soldiers. 315

cannot conscientiously use ? If it were simply to print editions
of the Bible with the terms proposed without interfering with
other terms, there would of course be no cause of complaint.
This, however, is not what is proposed, as is evident from the
circulars sent around by the Bible Societies which require
missions so to act as to bind all their members to use only the
Bible with the compromise terms. There is now a difference of
opinion as to terms, but no dissension nor bitterness. This
move, however, if carried out, will at once produce very serious
bitterness, making the minority to feel that the liberty they
have long enjoyed, is taken forcibly away and their scruples
disregarded. It will not be long till the church in China will
pass into the control of its Chinese leaders, and this question,
as well as sundry others, will then come up for final adjustment.
Until then any forcible settlement of this matter is premature.
In Japan the question was settled in favor of j^ before the
missionaries went to Japan, and they have had the wisdom not
to attempt any change. So here it will be far better, instead of
stirring up strife and bitterness, to let the question alone to work
out its own solution and bend all energies to the great work
of preparing a pure and intelligent native church which will be
fitted to decide this and other important questions wisely.

Bible and Tract Distribution to Japanese Soldiers

in Manchuria.

[About fifteen months ago we published an appeal for contributions from
the Chinese Christians for the purpose of supplying the Japanese soldiers with
tracts, portions of Scripture, etc. A few months later we reported that I135.00
had been received and forwarded to Rev. H. Loomis, Yokohama. The friends
who subscribed and many others will be interested in the following apprecia-
tions.—Editor, Chinese Recorder.]

THE work of the Y. M. C. A. in connection with the army
in the field has effected a peculiarly favorable opportunity
for the distribution of the Scriptures among the soldiers,
because they were rendered serious by the constant dangers to
which they were exposed and also there was great need of some-
thing to divert their minds from the horrors of the battle field.
Through the favor of the War Department all such supplies were
forwarded to any place desired, free of all expense.

The following are extracts from the letters to the Agent
of the American Bible Society from Secretaries who went to
the front for this special work and also from the Chairman of
the Committee : —

314 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

*' The good which was accomplished by distributing among
our soldiers in the field Gospels, tracts and picture cards, con-
tributed by the American Bible Society, is simply wonderful.
Gospels and tracts were the only reading matter many of the
soldiers had while in camp. A number of officers especially
asked for Gospels, as they thought it the best way to spend their
leisure in such reading.

**The demand for picture cards was enormous ; and often
I noticed that one picture served for several scores of soldiers.
No doubt that the motive which aroused some soldiers to inquire
about Christianity at the front came mostly from their reading
Gospels and tracts. j^ j^^ Ochiai.

** After each preaching service at the announcement that
the Scriptures would be given to all who wished to have them
there was always a rush for them, and some of them promised
us that they would study the book on their return to Japan.
We can safely say that many a seed of truth has been spread in
Manchuria through the Scriptures ; and we pray that by the
watering of the Holy Spirit they may bring forth fruit a hundred
times.

* ' I am more and more convinced of the great good done by
the distribution of the Scriptures. Some of those who were
exposed to incessant danger on the fighting line, as well as some
of those who were dragging out weary days at the rear, said that
they had been given comfort which nothing could surpass by
making the Bible their friend. I have reason to believe that the
fruit resulting from the Bible distribution was even greater than
that resulting from all the speeches and sermons put together.

K. Takeda.

FROM THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE SOLDIERS' COMFORTING
DEPARTMENT OF THE Y. M. C. A. UNION OF JAPAN.

Tokyo, March loth^ igo6.
Rev. H. Loomis.

Dear Sir : From the establishment of the Soldiers' Com-
forting Department by the Young Men's Christian Association,
you have shown great sympathy in our work, and by the grant
of an enormous number of Bibles, TestamentSj and tracts have
rendered a powerful assistance in giving to the soldiers at the
front the spiritual comfort which was the most important object
of our work. For this I thank you on behalf of all the
managing secretaries in Manchuria.

Since the opening of the Comforting Department at Chin-
nam-po, September 15th, 1904, till December 31st, 1905, 1,693
Testaments, 25,596 Gospels and 101,437 tracts have been

1906.] Bible and Tract Distribution to Japanese Soldiers. 515

distributed to the soldiers at the front in compliance with their
request. These books were all given with prayer.

The total number of the attendants at the Christian services
at the front aggregated 350,000, and we believe great good was
done to the Japanese soldiers by purifying their hearts and for
the Japanese society in general in improving its morality.

I beg to express again my thanks for your assistance given
us in our comforting work, lasting from the beginning to the
end ; and further pray for the prosperity of the American Bible
Society in Japan, of which you are Agent.

S. Otsuka.

FROM ONE OF THE FOREIGN SECRETARIES OF THE Y. M. C. A.
WHO SPENT SOME MONTHS AT THE FRONT.

Kyoto, March lyth^ i<po6.
My Dear Mr. Loomis :

I take this opportunity to thank you for the help you have
given, through the American Bible Society, in supplying
Bibles, Testaments and Portions for use in our army work.
We have put them to the best of use, giving them out carefully
only to soldiers who wanted them, and we have been greatly
gratified to observe the way they are appreciated. It has been a
striking fact that of all the comforts and pleasures our secre-
taries had to offer to the men at the front, the religious services
and Bibles were the most popular. Often soldiers asked for
Gospel talks, and the religious meetings were the most largely
attended of all. In three months over 180,000 soldiers attended
the religious meetings of the Association. As these men were
constantly on the move, it is safe to say that a large proportion
of that number attended the meetings only a few times, so that
the number of dij^crcnt soldiers who heard the message must
have been great. The good work has gone on for three months
since the above figures were found.

I remember seeing a soldier, a fine young fellow, come into
the secretary's office and ask to borrow a Bible. He thought
he must go through the same form that was required to borrow
other books from the library. The secretary let him sign for it
as usual. In two days he returned and said that he had read
three Gospels and that it was so wonderful he wished to know if
he could not buy the book. When the secretary told him that
kind American friends had given the Bibles to them and that
he could have it, the poor soldier went off with a radiant face.
This is but one of hundreds of such incidents. May God bless
your Society and the good people who make its work possible.

Yours in His service,

G. S. Phelps.

516 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

FROM REV. .Y. HONDA, D.D., CHAIRMAN OF THE ARMY
COMMITTEE OF THE Y. M. C. A.

The army department of the Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation Union of Japan desires to express their thanks for the
cordial co-operation of the American Bible Society in behalf of
the soldiers of the Japanese Army at the seat of war. Though
the spoken word might be soon forgotten these portions of the
Bible went into camp and field, carrying with them messages of
hope and comfort into the hospital and into the trenches before
the enemy's camp ; and many of them are coming to Japan
with the troops to be studied with new interest and respect.

A very large proportion of the lasting good accomplished
by this organization is due to the generosity with which you
have supplied this material ; and to you and your supporters we
extend the most cordial thanks.

The China Centenary Missionary Conference.

April 25th— May 6th, 1907.

Readers of the Recorder will be interested to know that satisfac-
tory progress is being made. The subjects which are to have a
place on the programme, and the Committees that are to deal with
those subjects, have now been selected. The lists are given below.

It will be seen that the programme is not yet made out in
detail. The Devotional Services and the Evening Public Meetings
will be arranged later.

Every suggestion sent in was carefully considered, and if some
important subjects have no place on the programme, it should be
remembered that the Conference lasts for te7i days only. Papers are
to be prepared, and these will be in print before the Conference
meets, but they will not be read at the Conference. Each subject
will be introduced to the Conference by a resolution or series of
resolutions based on the paper that has been prepared.

The selection of the Committees has occupied much time, and
the list now printed is subject to correction. In anticipation of
inquiries why some well-known and honoured names are not found
in the lists, it will be sufficient to say that not every missionary is a
Delegate, and that some who have been appointed Delegates are
going on furlough or are burdened with other responsibilities.

The "Indian Method" has been considerably modified by the
decision to have papers on each of the subjects on the programme,
and to discuss the subjects, not in committees, but in the full
Conference. The Committees accordingly are smaller than was
originally intended, but they are representative in the widest sense.

The number of Delegates, including those who come under the
' twenty-five years in China ' rule, is 449. Several missions and

1906.] The China Centenary Missionary Conference. 317

districts have yet to report. To these a final appeal is made to
reply promptly to the second circular which has been sent to them.

The Conference will commence (D. V.) on or about Thursday ^
April 2jih 7iext.

PROGRAMME.

FIRST DAY.

ORGANIZATION, COMMITTEES, RECEPTION.

SECOND DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

I. THE CHINESE CHURCH.

(a). The opportunities and responsibilities of the church in view of the
changed conditions in China.

(b). The self-support, self-government and aggressive work of the church,
and the means by which they may best be developed.

(c). The deepening of its spiritual life.

(d). The need of special teaching in the church in view of the increasing
circulation of rationalistic and anti-Christian literature.

(e). Evil practices that are injuring the church, such as litigation, con-
cubinage, and use of church membership for private ends.

(f ). How to get the help of young men and women in Christian work, and
how to train the children of the church.

THIRD DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

II. THE CHINESE MINISTRY.

(a). The student for the ministry and his training.

(b). How to induce educated men to enter the ministry.

(c). The preacher and pastor — his intellectual and spiritual development —
his relation to self-supporting churches, to the missionary, and to the mission —
the difficulties of his position, financial and social.

(d). The minister as an evangelist — his responsibility and opportunities.

FOURTH DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

III. EVANGELISTIC WORK.

(a). How best to adapt evangelistic methods to the new opportunities.

(b). The necessity and limits of conciliation.

(c). The relation of the Gospel to social and political questions.

(d). How to create and sustain in the Chinese church zeal for evangel-
ization.

(e). Use of auxiliary workers— colporteurs, Bible-women, church members.

(f ). Evangelization in the city and in the country.

(g). Evangelization amongst the higher classes — possibilities and methods.

(h). Unoccupied parts of the field, and special fields — Mongolians, Thibe-
tans, Mohammedans, INIiaos, Lolos, Shans, etc.

FIFTH DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

IV. EDUCATION.

(a). The new educational movements in China — a great opportunity for

Christian missions.

(b). The value of Christian education in providing capable and trust-
worthy leaders in State and Church.

(c). Christian colleges— their scope and limitations.

(d). How will mission schools and colleges be affected by a system of
education established by the Government, and what is our best policy in view
of this Governnvent education ?

(e). Normal schools and the training of teachers.

(f ). Education of the blind, and the deaf and dumb.

(g). Industrial education — what experiments have been made, and with
what success ?

318 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

SIXTH DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

V. WOMAN'S WORK.

1. GENERAIv.

(a). The women of the church — how they can best be instructed,
(b). Preparation of women candidates for baptism.

(c). What methods are best adapted to reach women of various classes in
city and country ?

(d). The training and employment of Bible-women or female evangelists.

2. EDUCATIONAL.

(a). The new attitude of the Chinese towards the education of girls
and women.

(b). What can Christian missions do to promote the general education of
girls and women in China?

(c). Mission schools for girls — their value to the church and their
influence in elevating the women of China.

(d). The training and supply of teachers.

(e). Industrial training for girls and women.

(f). Orphanages and other charitable institutions.

SEVENTH DAY.-Morning.

VI. MEDICAL WORK.

(a). The doctor as a missionary — how can his work be made a greater
Christian force ?

(b). Religious work in the hospital.

(c). How best to follow up and keep in touch with hospital and dispen-
sary patients.

(d). Medical training for Chinese doctors— its value and limitations.

(e). Medical work for women by women.

(f ). Nursing as a profession for Chinese women.

(g). Special work — lepers, the insane, opium refuges, etc.

SEVENTH DAY —Afternoon.

VII. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.

(a). The place and power of Christian literature in China.

(b). The need for devotional literature.

(c). The growth of the new Chinese literature an incentive to greater
literary activity on the part of Christian missions.

(d). The necessity for making the copyright clauses in the new Treaties
effective.

(e). The field for Christian magazines and newspapers.

(f). Reading-rooms, libraries and book-lending societies.

(g). Utilization of Japanese Christian literature and scholarship.

EIGHTH DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

VIII. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

(a) Translation — reports of Committees appointed at the last Conference.

(b). Interpretation — reports of Committees appointed at the last Con-
ference.

(c). Study and use of the Bible — preparation of courses of Bible studies,
and Sunday-school lessons.

NINTH DAY.— Morning and Afternoon.

IX. COMITY AND FEDERATION.

(a). The influence of missionary work in promoting the re-union of the
Church of Christ.

(b). How mission comity may be made more effective.
(c). The proposals of the Peking *' Committee on Union."

1906.] The China Centenary Missionary Conference.

319

TENTH DAY. -Morning.

X. THE MISSIONARY AND PUBLIC QUESTIONS.

(a). The relation of the missionary to his own government and to the
Chinese authorities (Treaty rights).

(b). How can the missionary best assist China in her political and social
re-construction.

TENTH DAY.— Morning.

XI. ANCESTRAL WORSHIP.
Investigation of the facts and statement of the Christian position.

TENTH DAY.— Afternoon.

XII. MEMORIALS.

(a). Memorial to the Government asking for complete religious liberty
for all classes of Chinese Christians.

(b). Declaration to the Government respecting the spiritual and philan-
thropic object of Prostestaiit Christian missions.

(c). A letter to the Home Churches.

(d). A letter to the Chinese Churches.

(e). A resolution on the Opium Question.

PROGRAMME COMMITTEES.

I. THE CHINESE CHURCH.

Chairman— Rev. J. C. Gibson, D.D.
Rev. C. Campbell Brown.
Mr. F. S. Brockman.

Rev. W. P. Chalfant
Rev. R. J. Davidson.
Rev. T. C. Fulton.
Rev. Spencer Lewis, D.D
Rev. John Martin.
. Rev. A. Lutley.
Rev. T. W. Pearce.
Rt. Rev. Bishop Roots
Rev. C. J. Voskamp.

E. P. M.

Swatow.

n. ,,

Amoy.

Y. M. C. A.

Shanghai.

(Young men.)

A. P. M.

Ichoufu.

F. F. M.

Chentu.

I. P. M.

Moukden.

D. M. E. M.

Nanking.

C. M. S.

Foochow.

C. I. M.

Hungtung.

L. M. S.

Hongkong.

A. C. M.

Hankow.

B. M.

Tsingtau.

II. THE CHINESE MINISTRY.

Chairman— Rev. D. Z, Sheffield, D.D. • A. B. C. F. M.

Rev. T. Barclay. E. P. M.

Rt. Rev. Bishop Cassels. C. I. M.

Rt. Rev. Bishop Graves, D.D. A. C. M.

Rev. G. W. Greene, D.D. S. B. C.

Rev. Chauncev Goodrich, D.D. A. B. C. F. M.

Rev. W. M. Hayes, D.D. A. P. M.

Rev. H. Rieke. R. M.

R,t. Rev. Bishop of Victoria. C. M. S.

Rev. A. L. Warnshuis. R. C. A. M.

Rev. J. S. Whitewright. E. B. M.

Tungchou.

Tainan.

Paoningfu.

Shanghai.

Canton.

Peking.

Chingchowfu.

Kangpui.

Hongkong.

Siokhe.

Chingchowfu.

* Subject to alterations.

320

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

III. EVANGELISTIC WORK.

Chairman— Rev. T. B. North.
Rev. G. Douglas.
Rev. H. C. DuBose, D.D.
Rev. R. H. Glover, M.D.

Rev. J. Hedley.

Rev. A. Karlsson.
Rev. J. W. Lowrie, D.D.
Rev. P. F. Price.
Rev. S. Pollard

Rev. H. French Ridley.

Rev. A. R. Saunders.
Rev. F. B. Turner.

W. M. S.
U. F. C. M.

A. P M. S.
C. M. A.

B. M. M.

S. H. U.
A. P. M.

A. P. M. S.

B. C. M.

C. I. M.

C. I. M.

B. M. M.

Hankow.

Liaoyang.

Soochow.

Wuchang.
( Yungpingfu.
■I (Colporteurs
( and Mongols.)

Tsoyun.

Paotingfu.

Dongshang.

Chaotong.

(Aborigines.)

Sining.

(Mohammedans. )

Yangchow.

Laoling.

IV. EDUCATION.

-Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D.D.

A. C. M.

Shanghai.

Rev. D. ly. Anderson, D.D.

M. B. C. S.

Soochow.

Rev. W. Iv. Beard.

A. B. C. F. M.

Foochow.

Rev. P. Bergen, D.D.

A. P. M.

Weihsien.

Rev. W. N. Brewster.

M. B. M.

Hinghua.
(Industrial.)

Rev. S. Couling.

B. B. M.

Weihsien.

Rev. D. Bntwistle.

W. M.

Hankow. (Blind),

Rev. B. F. Gedye.

W. M.

Wuchang.

Dr. S. Lavington Hart.

Iv. M. S.

Tientsin.

Rev. G. A. Stuart, M.D.

M. B. M.

Nanking.

Rev. O. F. Wisner, D.D.

C. College.

Canton.

V. WOMAN'S WORK.

I. General.

Chairman — Miss Benham.

Miss V. M. Atkinson.
Miss Julia Bonafield.
Miss Butler.
Miss Brj'er.
Miss B. Black.
Miss K. Fleming.
Miss Graham.
Miss Macintosh.
Mrs. Talbot.
Miss Talmage.

2. Bducational.

Chairman — Miss L. Miner.

Miss Beckingsale.
Miss Janet Clark.
Miss Dodson.
Miss Gertrude Howe.
Mrs. C. M. Jewell.
Miss Newton.
Miss Noyes.
Miss Richardson.
Miss M. B. Talmage.

L. M. S.
M. B. C. S.

Amoy.
Soochow.

M. B. M.

Foochow.

A. F. M.

Nanking.

C. B. Z.
B. P. M.

Kienning.
Swatow.

C. I. M.

Anren,

U. F. C. S.
C. P. M.
C. I. M.

Liaoyang.

Changtehfu.

Chuchow.

R. C. A. M.

Amoy.

A. B. C. F. M.

B. B. M.

Peking.
Sianfu.

C. M. S.
A. C. M.
M. B. M.
M. B. M.
A. B. C. F. M.

Ningtaik.

Shanghai.

Nanchangfu,

Peking

Foochow.

A. P. M.

Canton.

M. B. M. S.
R. C. A. M.

Shanghai.
Amoy.

1906.]

The China Centenary Missionary Conference.

321

VI. MEDICAL WORK.

Chairman— Dr. D. Christie. U. F. C. S.

Dr. W. H. Boone. A. C. M.

Dr. Agnes Cousins. L. M. S.

Dr. S. R. Hodge. W. M. S.

Dr. E. G, Horder. C. M. S.

Dr. N. S. Hopkins. M. E. M.

Dr. P. C. Leslie. C. P. M.

Dr. D. Duncan Main. C. M. S.

Dr. W. H. Park M. E. C. S.

Dr. Elizabeth Reifsnyder. W. U. M.

Dr. W. Wilson. C. I. M.

Moukden.

Shanghai.

Hankow.

Hankow.

Pakhoi. (Lepers,)

Peking.

Changtefu.

Hangchow.

Soochow.

Shanghai.

Hsiiting.

VII. CHRISTIAN I.ITKRATURK.

Chairman — Rev. Jas. Jackson. A. C. M. Wuchang.

Rev. Joseph S. Adams. A. B. M. U. Hanyang.

Rev. T. Bryson. L. M. 8. Tientsin.

Rev. J. Darroch. Shansi Uuiv. Shanghai.

Rev. I. T. Headland. M. E. M. Peking.

Rev. D. MacGillivray. C. L. S. Shanghai.

Ven. Archdeacon Moule. C. M. S. Ningpo.

Rev. F. Ohlinger. M. E. M. Shanghai.

Rev. J. Ross, D.D. U. F. C. S. Moukden.

Rev. J. Sadler. L. M. S. Amoy.

Rev. S. I. Woodbridge. A. P. M. S. Shanghai.

VIII. THE HOI.Y SCRIPTURES.

Chairman— Rev. A. P. Parker, D.D. M, E. C. S. Shanghai.

Members of the Executive Committees on the Union Versions,
Annotated Bible, etc., appointed at last Conference.

Sub-Committee on study and use of the Bible.

Rev. D. WillardLyon(rc7«z/<?;/^r) Y. M. C. A. Shanghai.

Rev. T. A. Parker Clinton. C. I. M. Changtefu.Hunan.

Rev. L. J. Davies. A. P. M. Tsingtao.

Mrs. Arnold Foster. L. M. S. Wuchang.

Rev. W. C. White. C. M. S. Longoang.

Chairman-

IX. COMITY AND

FEDERATION.

-Rev. W. S. Ament, D.D. •

A. B. C. F. M.

Peking.

Ven. Archdeacon Banister.

C. M. S.

Hongkong.

Rev. Jos. Beech.

M. E. M.

Chentu.

Rev. A. Bonsey.

L. M. S.

Hankow.

Rev. E. W. Burt.

E. B. M.

Weihsien.

Dr. T. Cochrane.

L. M. S.

Peking.

Rev. J. W. Heywood.

U. M. F. C.

Ningpo.

Rev. 0. L. Kilborn, M.D.

C. M. M.

Chentu.

Rev^ F. E. Meigs.

F. C. M.

Nanking.

Rev. ly. B. Ridgeley.

A. C. M.

Wuchang.

Rev. J. W. Stevenson.

C. I. M.

Shanghai.

Rev. G. G. Warren.

W. M.

Hankow.

Rev. J. Webster.

U. F. C. S.

Moukden.

522

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

X. THE MISSIONARY AND PUBLIC QUESTIONS.

Chairman— Rev. C. W. Mateer, D.D. A. P. M. Weilisien.

Rev. W. Ashmore, Jr., D.D. A. B. M. U. Swatow.

Rev. C. Bolwig. D. h. M. Takushan.

Rev. G. F. Fitch, D.D. A. P. M. Shanghai.

Rev. J. C. Garritt, D.D. A. P. M. Nanking.

Rev. G. Gussmann. B. M. Hongkong.

D. E. Hoste, Esq. C. I. M. Shanghai.

Rev. LI. Lloyd. C. M. S. Foochow.

Rev. D. S. Murray. L. M. S. Tsangchow.

Rev. Timothy Richard, D.D. C. L. S. Shanghai.

Rev. A. G. Shorrock. E. B. M. Sianfu.

XI. ANCESTRAL WORSHIP.

Chairman — Rev. Im. Genahr.

R. M.

Hongkong.

Rev. S. R. Clarke.

C. I. M.

Kweiyang.

Rev. W. A. Cornaby.

W M. S.

Shanghai

Rev. R. H. Graves, D.D.

S. B. C.

Canton.

Rev. J. Carson.

I. P. M.

Newchwang.

Rev. F. S. Joyce.

C. I. M.

Hsiangchenghsien.

Rev. P. J. Maclagan, Ph.D.

E. P. M.

Swatow.

Rev. A. H. Smith, D.D.

A. B. C F. M.

Panchuang.

Rev. A. Sowerby.

E. B. M.

Taiyuanfu.

Rev. S. G. Tope.

W. M.

Canton.

Rev. J. Wherry, D.D.

A. P M.

Peking.

Rev. H. M Woods, D D.

A. P. M. S.

Huaianfu.

XII. MEMORIALS.

Chairman — Rev. Arnold Foster. L M. S. Wuchang.

Rev. C. Bone. W. M. S. Hongkong.

Rev. F. D. Gamewell, Ph.D. M. E. M. Peking.

Rev. D. T. Huntington. A. C. M. Ichang.

Mr. R. E. Lewis. Y. M. C. A. Shanghai.

Rev. W. McGregor. E. P. M. Amoy.

Rt. Rev. Bishop Moule. C. M. S. Hangchow.

Rev. H. V. Noyes, D.D. A. P. M. Canton.

Rev. G. Reusch, B. M. Chonghangkang.

Rev. W. E. Soothill. U. M. F, C. Wenchow.

Gospel means glad tidings ; in Chinese it is called |g ^, the sound of
happiness. In preaching we may lay principal stress on the blessings it is
sure to bring to its receiver. We all know, of course, the important dis-
tinction between temporal and spiritual blessings, but our hearers, the common
Chinese, cannot possibly comprehend such a distinction, but explain happiness
in their own way, as commonly understood, the five kinds — a large family,
riches, honours, long life, and peace. They consider their religion a kind
of bargain with God ; they will worship Him, and God has to give them all
their heart desires. As long as they prosper they remain faithful, apparently
very good Christians, but when things go contrary to their wishes, and some-
times without any apparent reason but that they for their being Christians
meet with unexpected difficulties and affliction, then many fall off. Christ
Himself has foretold such in His Parable of the Sower.— From Dr. Faber's
*'Paul, the Apostle in Europe," page 67.

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 323

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,
Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

English or Chinese?

A letter from Prof. Arthur Lloyd, of Tokio.

[This letter was written in answer to a request made to Prof. Lloyd that
he would contribute an article to the Recorder on the question as to the
language to be used in mission education in the East.]

nth February, 1906.
My Dear Mr. Mann:

I am extremely sorry to .say that I am far too busy to under-
take anything like a formal essay either now or for some time to
come. But by a strange coincidence it does so happen that only
last week I was writing to England on the very same subject, and
I think it might perhaps answer your purpose just as well if I
were to write you, while the matter is fresh in my mind, a short
r^sum^ of what I have already written for use elsewhere.

1. We are Christian educationists ; at least I consider my-
self one, and your Association, I presume, makes the same claim.
As Chri.stian educators it is our duty to give instruction and train-
ing calculated, among other things, to enable our students "to
learn and labour truly to get their own living and to do their
duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call them."

That means that a good practical secular education is a vital
portion of all education —any education which fails to enable scho-
lars to earn their living and do their duty so far fails to be even a
Christian education.

2. In order to enable our students to earn their own living
we must give them science, geogjraphy, history, all that modern
life requires, regardless of any powers they may have of acquiring
languages.

Two years ago I had several talks with Prof. Sharpe, of Bombay,
who had been sent over to Japan by his government to study
educational problems in this country. He told me that there was
no comparison between students in Japan and in India. In Japan
the students he found to be poor in English and linguistics, but
strong in practical subjects, mathematics, etc., which they learned
in Japanese; whereas the Indian student was, as a rule, excellent
in language but weak in practical knowledge.

324 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

The Japanese, government has shown excellent judgment in
insisting on all instruction in practical subjects being given in the
vernacular, and I believe the example of Japan is the one to be
followed in China. Indeed I think it is the example that will be
followed, whatever line the missionary schools may choose to adopt.

{a). It enables all students, whether linguists or not, to profit
by the instruction.

(d). It enables schools to employ native teachers who have
any aptitude to teach science, even though they may not have any
knowledge of English or German.

(c) . A vernacular education is one of the bases of patriotism ;
and just as the United States would refuse to sanction any system
of education in which instruction was given in French or German,
so China ought, as Japan has done, to discountenance any education
which is not vernacular.

3 This brings up the question of text-books. Japan has
been obliged to make all her text-books for herself. China, which
employs the same vScript, will be able, in her educational reforms,
to enter into the labours of Japan, and it is wonderful how energetic-
ally the supply of Japanese text-books for the Chinese market is
being pushed. The books which Japan supplies are neither brilliant
nor original, but they are practical adaptations of Western science
by Orientals for Orientals, and that is what China needs. China
will in time find native scholars to do what is required for a truly
national system of text-books.

4. My own special line is teaching advanced classes. But my
work is not as advanced as perhaps you suppose.

At the Commercial School I am strictly practical, and by way
of giving my students some insight into the language of daily life,
I am this year translating into English a very realistic Japanese
novel. In the navy I have some students who are almost beginners ;
indeed one class are taking Barnes' third reader. But the object
before me has always to be practical, a knowledge of English which
will enable a Japanese officer to do his dut}^ in, say, a foreign port.
In the University alone do I lecture on literature, and there I
find that whereas my own more intimate acquaintance with my
own tongue often stands me in good stead, j^et that true inspiration,
which is one of the true tests of a higher instruction which is worth
anything, comes much more frequently from my Japanese colleagues
than from myself. I can explain, correct, and make suggestions in
English, but when I want to ''inspire" I have to fall back on my
scanty stock of Japanese colloquial.

I think I have indicated the lines along which China ought to
(and will) develop her national system of education. It ought to
be the aim of Christian educationists to push that national system
with all the strength they have, for therein lies China's hope, and
a good national system of education can only be a help in the long
run to the religion we believe. The time wnll come in China, as
it has come here, when the special raison d'etre of mission schools
will disappear. In the meantime, and for many years to come,
they will have their place as training places for teachers. And,

1906.] Educational Department. 325

it seems to me, their work will be permanent or the reverse
according to the position they take up with regard to the question
of vernacular teaching.

I think that is a fair summary of what I feel on the subject of
education in the Far East. If it is of any use to you, I shall be
very glad to have had the opportunity of writing it.

Believe me to be,

Yours very sincerely,

Arthur I^loyd.

The Educational Directory in China.

THE Educational Directory for China is now out. Besides
being invaluable for practical purposes it is a most
interesting book to look over so as to get an idea of
what is being done in different places and to get an account of
the different schools and colleges in China.

The Editor of the book is Mr. N. Gist Gee, M.A., of
Soochow University, and he deserves the thanks of all members
of the Educational Association for the work which he has
accomplished. The labors required in preparing such a book
must have been tremendous, and for anyone to take up such a
task, in addition to his regular college duties, surely shows a
spirit of self-sacrifice and of devotion to the common interest of
all who are working in China.

The body of the work is occupied by short accounts of each
of the schools in China, classified according to missions. About
seventy missions are represented in this way. These accounts
give the personnel, and in the case of the larger schools and
colleges also give a general account of the work being done.
In this not only the mission schools are included, but also the
government schools under foreign management.

The Appendices are perhaps still more valuable than the
main part of the book. Appendix A gives the Courses of
Study for Male Institutions. Fifteen such institutions are repre-
sented. The hours spent on each study and in many cases the
text-books used are given, so as a reference book in opening
new work this may be of great value.

Appendix B does the same thing for Girls^ Schools, giving
five courses of study.

Appendix C contains first a Summary of Boarding-schools
for Young Men. In this the schools are classified according to
provinces, and the statistics are given. These include the

326 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

number of teachers, foreign and native, and the number of
boarding and day pupils. Altogether there are eighteen colleges
or schools, each containing over lOO boarding pupils.

The next summary is that of Boarding-schools for Young
Women. These, although very numerous, are much smaller ;
only five reaching the loo mark.

Other summaries are those of Anglo-Chinese Graded-
schools. Day-schools, and Kindergartens. Of the latter there
are five, with a total of ii8 pupils.

Last in the book comes a list of Members of the Educa-
tional Association and an index to the volume by names of
towns represented.

Altogether there are over 200 pages in the Directory, and it
is well worth the dollar which it costs at the Presbyterian Mission
Press, Shanghai. We suppose that most members of the Educa-
tional Association will provide themselves with this volume,
and again we thank its editor for his labors on our behalf.

F. L. H. P.'s Editorial in " St. John's Echo."

[Some interesting statistics have been compiled b}' Dr. Pott from the figures
given in the Directory, so with acknowledgments to him we reprint the
following editorial summarizing the Directory : — ]

The Educational Directory compiled by Mr. N. Gist Gee, and
just published by the Educational Association of China, is a volume
full of interest. No one can study it carefully without realizing
more than before what a very important and valuable work in
helping to educate China is carried on by Christian missionaries.

Apart from the religious influence exerted by the schools under
their direction, and viewed solely from the standpoint of being the
means for the introduction of a more enlightened form of education,
these schools and colleges have been of inestimable value to China.

They are a free gift from the West to the East, representing a
very large sum of money which is annually poured into China, and
they constitute a gift which is inspired by purely philanthropic
motives.

We have taken the trouble to add up some of the columns of
figures contained in the appendices, and attempted to get a summary
of the work in this way.

We gather from the statistics contained in this book that at
present there are no less than 8,000 male students residing at the
various mission boarding-schools and colleges conducted by Protestant
missionaries. To this number another thousand may be added for
day-students attending boarding-schools. There are about four
thousand female students in the various missionary boarding-schools
and colleges, with an additional 600 day-students attending them.

Altogether there are 185 boarding-schools and colleges for male
students and 93 for female students.

1906.] Educational Department. 327

About 296 male and 273 female teachers are engaged in carr34ng
on this educational work.

The Directory also contains reports from 1,350 day-schools under
Protestant missionary auspices, with a total enrollment of 16,000
male students and 7,000 female students. \Ve imagine that this is,
by no means, a complete report of mission day-schools, but even as
it is the figures are striking.

There are as many as fourteen institutions which may properly
be classed as colleges. These are distributed in the great centres
of China, along the coast, and in the interior.

As an evidence of the attention paid to this department of
missionary work by American societies, it is interesting to note that
of the fourteen, twelve are colleges founded and conducted by
American missionaries.

The only disappointing report in the Directory is the meagre
returns it contains in regard to kindergarten work. Owing doubtless
to the difficulties of conducting this kind of work in China, the
figures show that only some 126 children, throughout the whole of
the empire, are under this form of instruction.

As we have .said before now that China is contemplating the
organization of an educational system throughout the country, she
cannot afford to be regardless of the great work that is being carried
on by missionaries. She should recognize the value of the work and
gratefully receive the benefit which is conferred upon her by the
labour of these men and women.

Those who scoff at missions and tlieir practical value would do
well to ponder these figures, and try to form some estimate of the
amount of effort which they indicate, and of the influence these
schools and colleges must necessarily exert in China.

It has been said that Christianity entered Japan through the
school. We think it may be said, without fear qf exaggeration,
that much of the work for preparing China to understand the Chris-
tian religion has been performed quietly and silently in these schools.
It w^ould be interesting to know how many of these students
have been led to embrace the Christian religion, but even if this
number proved disappointing, w'e still can see that the pupils who
come under the instruction of these schools can hardly fail to have
misconceptions removed and to have some appreciation for the great
religious ideas contained in the teaching of Jesus Christ.

The St. Louis Educational Exhibit.

To the Members of

The Kdugationai. Association.

By a vote of the Executive Committee of the Educational
Association it was decided to place the Educational Exhibit, which
was collected ior the St. Eouis Exposition, on view in Shanghai at
the International Institute. We have set apart for this purpose a
portion of one room, but we are hoping to have in time more space
to lend for such an exhibit. At present this exhibit consists of

328 The Chinese Recorder. [June,

books, albums, separate pictures, samples of school examinations
and class work and a few models of buildings. So far as the
Institute is concerned, we would be glad to see this exhibit not only-
made permanent, but improved by additional. Besides the large
number of outsiders who see the exhibit, some of the members of
the Educational Association may also find interest therein. The
Institute may be found at 345 Rue du Consulat Prolongee.

Yours truly,

G11.BERT Reid.

Meetings of the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee met at the McTyiere Home on
Friday, 9th of March, at 5 p.m.

Present: Rev. Messrs. Silsby, Pott, Rawlinson, Miss Richardson,
Profs. Cooper and Walker. In the absence of Dr. Parker, Mr.
Silsby was asked to take the chair.

Mr. Cooper reported that as a result of the ballot recently sent
out, over two-thirds of the total membership of the Association had
voted in favor of the following four amendments to the Constitution
and By-laws : —

1. To amend the Constitution, Art. I, by adding the following: "The
Chinese name of this Association shall be t}^ ^ f{( ff f^."

2. To amend the Constitution, Art. IV, by changing the final period to
a comma, and adding the following: "as active members; other persons
engaged in such work shall be eligible as associate members Active members
alone shall have the right to vote and to hold office. Election to membership,
ad interim, rests with the Executive Committee. "

3. To amend By-law 7 by inserting the words, "and Chairman of the
Publication Committee," after the word Treasurer.

4. To amend the By-laws by adding a new by-law (No. 14) as follows : —
•'At the triennial meetings of the Association the reports of Officers and

Standing Committees shall be distributed in printed form at the first meeting
of the Association, at which time they shall be read by title and referred to
appropriate committees. Such committees shall return the reports for the
action of the Association at the opening of the morning session, from daj^ to
day, together with such recommendations as they shall desire to make, and
action upon the reports shall then take precedence of all other business."

These changes have therefore been adopted b}^ the Association.
On motion, Mr. George Alfred Clayton, of Wusueh, Kiukiang,
was elected a member of the Association.
On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker,

Secretary.

The Executive Committee met at the McTyiere Home on
Friday, 6th April, 1906, at 5 p.m.

Present : Dr. Parker, Chairman ; the Rev. Messrs. Silsby and
Cline, Prof. Walker.

The Secretary read letters from Drs. Sheffield and S. Lavington
Hart accepting their appointment to the Committee, to find out the

I

1906.] Educational Department. 329

position of the Chinese Government with regard to mission schools,
etc., and at the suggestion of Dr. Sheffield, the names of Dr. Ament
and Rev. E. T. Williams, of Peking, were added to the Committee.

The Secretary read a letter from Rev. J. Whiteside accepting
the position of director of the book exhibit.

Miss Henrietta Montgomery, of the American Presbyterian
Mission, Kiungchow, Hoihow, Hainan, was elected to membership
in the Association.

Dr. Parker reported that the work on the Directory of the
Association was complete and that the book was now ready for sale.
The price, as already decided, was $1.50 per copy and $1.00 to
members of the Association.

Dr. Parker reported that the sales of books for the six months
ending 31st December, 1905, had amounted to $2,624.21 and that
the bills paid for printing during the same time had amounted to
$999.60.

Dr. Parker reported that the Mission Press had paid to the
Treasurer of the Association $1,000 and that there was still a balance
of $4,112.73 in the hands of the Press.

On motion, it was decided to send twenty copies of the Direc-
tory to Prof. N. Gist Gee, of Soochow.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker,

Secretary,

The Committee met at the McTyiere Home on Friday, 4th
May, 1906, at 5 p.m.

Present : Dr. Parker, Chairman ; the Rev. Messrs. Silsby, Cline,
Rawlinson, Be van. Profs. Cooper and W^alker.

The Secretary read a letter from Mr. N. Gist Gee, of Soochow,
stating how he had disposed of the copies of the directory sent him
and making a request for more. On motion, it was decided to send
ten more copies of the directory to Mr. Gee.

The Secretary read a letter from Dr. D. Z. Sheffield, of North
Tungchou, stating the progress of the work of the Committee to find
out the position of the Chinese Government with regard to Mission
colleges.

The Secretary also read a copy of a letter prepared by the above
Committee to be sent to Hon. W. W. Rockhill, U. S. Minister at
Peking.

On motion of Mr. Cooper it wa^ decided to indorse the letter to
Mr. Rockhill.

Mr. Bevan reported that a draft for ^94 odd had been sent to
W. and A. K. Johnston in payment of their bill.

On motion of Mr. Silsby it was ordered that 2,000 copies of Dr.
Parker's Trigonometry be printed, as the present edition had been
exhausted.

On motion, the meeting adjourned.

M. P. Walker,

Secretary.

350

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

Our Book Table.

Pioneer Work in Hunan, by Adam
Dorward and other missionaries of
the China Inland Mission, with por-
traits, illustrations and map. By Mar-
shall Broomhall. London : Morgan
and Scott and China Inland Mission.
1906. 2/- nett.

For this instructive and in-
spiriting book we cordially thank
Mr. Broomhall, and we trust its
reception will be such as to
encourage him to write in a
similar way the story of pioneer
work done by C. I. M. mission-
aries in each of the provinces
where they are now established.

The majority of the workers on
the field to-day know little or noth-
ing of the heroes who toiled and
suffered twenty or thirty years
ago. We commend this study
of Adam Dorward's eight years
of strenuous and faithful toil to
every junior missionary. It is
well, indeed, that the example of
such a true evangelist should be
before us all. Nor have we
recently come across a book that
will do more good in the home
churches. It would make a
capital textrbook for Christian
Endeavour Societies and Mission
Bands.

Adam Dorward was one of
those men who write little about
themselves, and we do not there-
fore see as much of the man as
we should like ; but his work
shows him to have been a man of
rare qualities of heart and mind.
Arriving in China in 1878 he
was, after two years of prepara-
tion, set apart for pioneering
work in Hunan. His first jour-
ney in the province was made
in 1880, and to him belongs the
honour of having been the first
foreigner to reside in any of its
cities or towns. Dorward's jour-
fx^y^ were not mere trips to

certain points and back again,
but the long itinerations of a
true pioneer. His first journey
was one of 500 miles, and in 1883
he covered no less than 1,300
miles. He was often alone, and
often he carried his own pack
over those weary miles. Of the
eighty-two chief walled cities in
Hunan, Dorward visited no less
than sixty-three, and in each, as
far as it could be done, he
appears to have preached and sold
Scriptures and tracts — a splendid
record when we remember that
Hunan was then the "closed"
province. " Amid hardships un-
recorded and discouragements
sufficient to dishearten the most
sanguine, he gave the strength of
his fine manhood to the doing of
God's work among a people who
repeatedly cast him out as the
off-scouring of the earth ; until,
in one final effort to stand by a
fellow-missionary in time of
special need, he denied his body
that rest, which serious sickness
demanded, and literally poured
out his soul unto death."

Space will not permit even a
reference to those who became
Dorw^ard's colleagues and succes-
sors, to whom the book, how-
ever, does full justice.

That twelve societies now
have resident workers in the
province and that the C. I. M.
has eight foreign missionaries at
four central stations, and that
this same Mission has twelve
native helpers and nearl}'- one
hundred baptized Christians, are
facts that should stop the mouth
of unbelief and call forth abund-
ant praise.

The illustrations, the map and
general get-up of the book are
admirable. G. H. B.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

531

Comparative Study in Geographical
Terminologv i|) ]^ t-"! ^ p- ^ ^h
By Gilbert Reid and Sha Ch'ing.
Commercial Press, Shanghai.

This is a collection, under one
view, of a long list of geogra-
phical names with their Chinese
equivalents as hitherto used by
the following authorities : The
Geography issued by the Com-
mercial Press in Shanghai ; the
Geography prepared by Messrs.
Chapin and Tewksbury of
North China College ; the Geo-
graphy prepared by Mrs. Alice
Parker ; the Geography prepared
by the Japanese, and where the
words are in smaller type, a
still later and larger Geography
prepared by the Japanese ; a
Geography prepared by the late
Dr. William Muirhead; mis-
cellaneous authorities, especially
books published by the Shang-
hai Arsenal ; books issued by
the Diffusion Society. Dr. Reid
says in the Introduction : "The
following Lists .... are the
outcome of giving instruction in
History and Geography and of
preparing books in Chinese on

Historical Themes In

looking over these different lists
it will be at once apparent that
there has either been no system
in the selection of terms, or, if
there has been a system, it does
not conform to the usage of the
Chinese language. It will be
seen that the same sounds are
not rendered with the same
Chinese character, but different
characters represent the same
sounds. Which of the lists is
the most suitable still remains to
be determined. In preparing

these lists it has been

with the hope, First, that the
Chinese government, through its
Ministry of Education, will very
soon be able, by the appoint-
ment of competent Chinese and
foreign scholars, to issue an
official list, either selecting the

best terms that have already
been in use, or preparing a new
list; and, Secondly, that the
Educational Association, which
consists of nearly all the British
and American educationists in
China, would also complete the
task, which it has already under-
taken, of selecting a set of terms
in geography for literary and
educational use."

It would have been better if
Dr. Reid had included the terras
that have already been adopted
by the Educational Association.
And users of his book would be
glad, also, if he had indicated
his preference for one set of
terms, as his experience and
observation would have given
contidence to many whose views
on the subject have not been
definitely fixed.

Dr. Reid has done a good
work in collating these lists, as it
will be a great help both to the
student and maker of books on
geographical and historical sub-
jects in Chinese, and also to the
Chinese government and the
Educational Association who,
Dr. Reid hopes, may be able to
select and publish a List of
Terms such as may come into
general use. But the whole
subject still remains to be dealt
with in some adequate manner so
as to secure a uniform system of
rendering Western geographical
names into Chinese. For the
present confusion reigns. With
these lists before you, " 3^ou
p^ys your money and takes your
choice." ^ p^ p^

Chinese Superstitions. By J. Vale.
London : C. I. INI., Morgan and Scott.
1906. Price 6d.

This well-printed little volume
is evidently an amplification of
the paper read by Mr. Vale
before the Chen-tu Association in
1904 and published in pamphlet
form in 1905. In the notice in

332

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

the May Recorder for that year
the reviewer said it would be a
helpful exercise for younger mis-
sionaries to talk over with their
teachers the various customs set
forth in this booklet and note
wherein they coincide with, or
differ from, the practice in their
own locality. Unfortunately in
this issue there are no Chinese
characters at all. In the new
edition the following charms,
which are not in the earlier pam-
phlet are mentioned : how to stop
a fire ; angry ancestor charm ;
egg and seed charm. The divi-
sions of the booklet are :

I. Superstitions confined to
certain classes of society.

II. Superstitions common to
all classes.

Under the second heading come
old wives' superstitions, super-
stitions in connection with sick-
ness and disease, and supersti-
tions in connection with marriage,
birth, death, and burial.

A valuable addition to this new
issue are two beautiful half-tone
reproductions of objects con-
nected with these beliefs. Such
a publication is of great value at
home, where those who are inter-
ested generally have access only
to the beautiful theories of the
popular religious systems, and
learn nothing of the customs and
superstitious f^ars which do so
much in shaping, and twisting,
the lives of the people.

We would suggest to the
friends interested in the subject
of folklore, and who have been
making a special study of the
customs, superstitions, legends
and myths of the people among
whom they live, that they should
compare notes — possibly at the
General Conference in 1907^
and arrange for the publication
of a book dealing with the whole
matter and its relations to differ-
ent parts of the Empire. In the

Journal of the China Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol.
xxxiv, I : and xxxvi) Rev. E.
Box gives us a study of Shanghai
Folklore, which should not be
forgotten in the preparation of

such a work.

G. M.

" Religions of Mission Fields as view-
ed by Protestant Missionaries."

To bring into one volume of a
hundred pages a practical survey
of the great varieties of non-
Christian religions prevailing in
** Mission Lands " would likely
have been a failure in other hands
than those of Dr. H. P. Beach,
Educational Secretary of the
Student Volunteer Movement.
But even so the success of this
book has been achieved by hav-
ing each religion treatedin suc-
cinct, first-hand fashion, by mis-
sionaries writing on the field.

Dr. Richards treats of the
"Religion of the African," Dr.
De Forrest of Shinto, Mr. Janvier
of Hinduism, Dr. Cushing of
Southern Buddhism, Dr. Gring of
Japanese Buddhism, Dr. DuBose
of Taoism, Mr. Meyer of Ju-
daism, Dr. Zweimer of Moham-
medanism, Dr. Winton of Cathol-
icism, and, of special interest,
Dr. Devollo Z. Sheffield of Con-
fucianism. We do not remember
to have seen in condensed form
any treatment of Confucianism
so intelligible to the lay mind
and so carefully diagnozed as is
this by Dr. Sheffield. In regard
to ancestor worship he closes
his brief paragraph by saying :
'* This worship has been ex-
cluded from the Roman Catholic
church in China, though from
early times that church has
admitted the worship of saints
and angels into its ritual. In
the Protestant church the deeper
spiritual intuitions of the native
converts uniformly declare against
this practice." R. E- ly.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

333

The Creed of Christ. A Study in the
Gospels. By Rev. Richard Venable
Lancaster. i2nio.. pp. 206. Rich-
mond, Va. Presbyterian Committee
of Publication. 60 cents.

The author, a former mission-
ary in China, has given us in
this little volume a book which
is rather unique in its plan and
which comes to us higMy en-
dorsed by some of our ablest min-
isters in America. One of them
said recently : * * This is one of
the best books of its day. I know^
of nothing better in its line. I
have reread it, and it grows upon
me." He further says: "For
myself, after fifty years of Bible
study, I do not hesitate to affirm
that this book is a fair and free
statement of the actual faith of
Jesus of Nazareth — the Christ."

There are many books telling
what the creeds of certain
churches, or people, or individuals
are. This usually means their
interpretation of the teachings
of the Scriptures or of Christ on
certain points, but the idea of
this book is to go deeper and
tell as far as possible in Christ's
own words what He HimselJ
believed on different subjects.
We are told in simple language,
because it is mainly Christ's own
language, what He believed about
the Scriptures, God, Satan,
Sin, Punishment for Sin, Him-
self, His Kingdom, the Holy
Spirit, the Second Coming, the
Final Glory, etc.

In carrying out this idea
Christ is either quoted fairly and
fully, or else chapter and verse
for the statements are given.
There is no effort to establish or
to controvert any church peculiar
doctrines or belief. Whether look-
ed at simply as a Bible study
or as a devotional work the book
is alike good. We most heartily
commend the book to everyone
and feel sure that all will be
helped by a careful reading of it.

G.

Mac7tiilla7i and Co.^s recent issues.

Macaulay's Essay on Clive, with
introduction, notes, etc., by H. M.
Buller, MA., price i/-, is a well got np
little volume. In the introduction
Mr. Buller accuses .Macaulay of in-
accuracies, and he thereupon imitates
his example. He gives the date of
the founding of the English East
India Company as 1606, whereas the
charter was granted in 1600 and
the company founded probably in
1599. He confuses English and
British just as Macaulay does. His
spelling of " Mahomedanism " is
unusual, but as the spelling of Oriental
names seems one of his speciaHties,
we shall not quarrel with hira about
it. The notes, etc., are valuable
helps in the study of the Essay. Mr.
Buller has, on the whole, done his
work well.

An introduction to Practical Geogra-
phy '3/6) by Simmons and Richardson,
is an admirable contribution to the
text-books that are being issued for
the rational teaching of the children
of to-day. It is a geography in the
widf St sense of the word and does not
treat of countries, their peoples and
commerce. It is more in the nature
of physiography, in that it treats on
the surface of the earth only and the
various phenomena observed by us
who live thereon. It is what it pro-
fesses to be, a /!>;-ar/7Va/ geography, in
that it shows how to make maps of
rooms, fields, countries, and conti-
nents, etc. It shows how to put to prac-
tical use barometers, thermometers,
dials, compasses, sextants, etc. The
various tables given are interesting
as well as useful, and altogether for
advanced pupils we have not seen
anything in the way of text-books
likely to be of greater use in the
subject it professes to treat.

A Shilling Arithmetic, with Answers.
By S. L. Loney, M.A,, sometime
f^'ellow of Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge, and L. W. Grenville,
M.A., of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge, Senior Mathematical Master
of St. Dunstan's College, Catford,
S. E. Price 1/6.

This little book, written on the lines
of Loney 's " Arithmetic for Schools,"
has been prepared in the hope of
meeting the requirements of Second-
ary Schools, and covers the course for
the Oxford and Cambridge Junior
Local Examinations.

534

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

Macmillan's New Globe Readers.
Book III. 1/2.

Selected passages from ^sop,
Hans Anderson, Kingsley, Tenn3^son,
Ballantyne, Lewis Carrol, and other
well known writers, form a com-
pilation excellently calculated to
interest and inform children who
have got over the first difficulties of
reading, but are not 3'et sufficiently
advanced to run alone.

Macmillan's New Globe Readers.
Book IV. Price 1/4.

There is a great treat for our young
people in this volume. The list of
authors includes the well-known
writers of several countries ; and the
stories from the Odyssey and Teutonic
mythology will help to create and
develop the desire for good books.

Ivanhoe. By Sir Walter Scott.
Abridged and edited with introduc-
tion, notes, glossary, etc., by Young
Johnson. This well-illustrated volume
is issued at 1/6.

Old Mortality. By Sir Walter Scott.

With Notes by the Editor and Mr.
Andrew Lang, Glossary and Index.
A nice edition of an old favorite.
Price 2/6.

Les Caracteres ou les Mseurs de ce
Siecle, par La Bruyere. Adapted and
edited by Eugene Pellissier. Price
2/6.

Marchand D'Allumettes, par A. Gen-
nevraye. Edited by Cloudesley
Brereton. Price 2s.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The Records of a Conference on Fed-
eration held at Peking. China,
September 2«tli to October ist,
1905. Printed in Japan. 1906.

A hundred and eighteen pages of
interesting discussion of this im-
portant subject.

Missionary District of vShanghai, A.C.
M. Report of Fourth Conference.
1906. January 31st- February i, 2, 3.
Shanghai, 1906.

A cheering and encouraging report
of progress, with valuable statistical
tables, and helpful discussions of
the following subjects : — (i) The
Catechumenate. (2) Christian Union
in China. (3) The Relationship of
Heathen to Christian Rites and
Ceremonies. (4) The Missionary's
Attitude towards the Political and
Social Movement in China.

Report of the American Baptist
Telugu Mission for the year 1905,
being the seventieth year of the
Mission. Madras, 1906.

A hopeful report, with sketch map
of the field, illustrations of the work-
ers, and carefully prepared tables of
statistics.

^IK^i AP^f?!]^ A Catechism of Health,
giving elementary instruction in
the first principles of health and
hygiene. By P. L. McAll, b.a.,
M.B., L. M. S., Hankow. Central
China Religious Tract Society, Han-
kow.

Transactions of the Asiatic Society
of Japan. Vol. xxxiii. Part 2.
December, 1905. Price |i. 50.

Contains : — "Village Life in Japan."
" The Ten Buddhistic Virtues"

Tlie China Medical Missionary Jour-
nal. May, 1906. Volume xx.
No. 3.

Annual Report of the Smithsonian
Institution, 1904. United States
National Museum. Washington
City, 1906.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 44
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the

that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C. L. S. List:—

Translated by Miss L,aura
White : — Christmas in Different

work they are engaged on, so Countries.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

335

By Rev. J. Sadler : — Winners
in Life's Race. (Finished.)

S. D. Gordon' s book on Power.
ByRev.D.MacGillivray. (Finish-
ed.)

Booker T. Washington's " Up
from Slavery.' ' By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Simple Mandarin Church His-
tory. D. MacGillivray.

Guizot's Civilization. W. A.
Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the
Christian Religion. Dodge.

Commercial Press List: —

Laughlin's Political Economy.

Hinman's Eclectic Physical
Geography.

Milne' s Plane and Solid Geome-
try.

Geographical Terms in Chinese,
European Constitutional History
(for Educational Association).

Green's History of the English
People, translated for the Kiang-
nan Arsenal.

Sha?isi bnperial University
List .—

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

Text-books of Tokio Normal
School. Translated from the
Japanese : Meteorology, Iron-
work, Mineralogy, Zoology,
Physiology, Physiography.

Systematic Theology. By Dr.
H. C. DuBose. (very extensive)

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the
Life of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters.

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Mandarin. Rev. C. H.
Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

Couling's Text-book of Zoo-
logy.

Outline Scripture Catechism.
By Mrs. Hugh W. White.

Doctrinal Catechism. By Rev.
Hugh W. White.

Mrs. Bertha S. Ohlinger, " An
Indian Princess."

Abridgment of Mateer's Arith-
metic. By Mrs. Mateer.

Catechism on St. John's Gos-
pel. By Mrs. DuBose.

Rev. Geo. L. Gelwicks writes
to say that he is working on a
Concordance of the Old Testa-
ment in collaboration with Rev.
H. C. Fenn on the New Testa-
ment.

Mr. MacGillivray's Classified
and Descriptive Catalogue of
Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out, he purposes bringing
it up to date for the 1907 Centen-
ary Conference, including all dis-
tinctively Christian books by all
Societies. Suggestions for im-
provement and materials grate-
fully received from recent authors
and from Societies. He has also
in mind to publish a China Mis-
sion Year- Book, commencing
with 1906, to be issued at the
beginning of 1907, this to be the
first of a regularly appearing
series of Year -Books. Sugges-
tions as to what should be
included in these Year-Books are
now solicited. He would also
like to know from missionaries
what they think of the idea.
This has nothing to do with the
Centenary Historical Sketches,
of which he is Editor.

336

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

Editorial Comment.

The contents of this issue
afford much food for thought,

^., and, in some

Cblnese '

iDossfbllltlcs ""^^^^^ opportun-
posstbtimes. .^^ ^^^ explana-
tion. A most interesting field
of thought is suggested by
Bishop Graves' paper on Chi-
nese Christianity. The observa-
tion and experience of most
missionaries will doubtless in
the main agree with his sum-
mary of Chinese traits and
their probable influence on the
Christianity of coming genera-
tions. It may, however, be
questioned whether there is
not in the Chinese far more
depth and warmth of emotion,
and hence the possibility
of arousing greater religious
devotion than appears on the
surface. The Chinese seldom
express exactly what they feel,
and then only to those with
whom they are in absolute
accord. The one great ex-
ception to this statement is
perhaps that revolt of the
individual from self-repression
which is seen in the frenzy
of rage to which many Chinese
give way. There is a self-
abandon and, so to speak,
enjoyment of this passion in
these cases which reveals the
emotional depths of the Chinese
character. Love, faith, the
desire for holiness, and as Bi-
shop Graves has pointed out,
the power of self-renunciation,
have the highest potentialities
in such a people, in spite of the
apparent calm and coldness of
their exterior. This coldness

and the fear of showing what is
in their hearts result largely
from two causes : first, the sub-
jection of the individual to the
mass ; and second, the sense
of lack of sympathy, or as it
may be called, the suspicion or
fear that others will criticize
and laugh at those who carry
their hearts on their sleeve.
But the heart within is capable

of being touched and thrilled.
* * *

Along with the idolatry and
superstition of China is to
-. , be found a certain

, amount of religious

fervor and devotion
— as much perhaps as is dis-
coverable in most countries
where idols are worshipped.
Such devotion is kindled, not
by the idols or the ceremonies ;
for falsehood has no power to
warm the heart ; but rather
by adventitious circumstances,
such as calamity, or sorrow, or
pain, or opposition and persecu-
tion. Indeed these seem to be
needed to bring many of us,
who are born in Christian
lands, to feel and appreciate
the truth. But the feeling of
need brought Buddhism to
China against the veto of the
sages and the scholars. Priests
and nuns to-day bring women
to tears as they tell of the
pains and sorrows of Buddha
or of saints of that religion.
In spite of mixed motives
we must believe that it is
religious fervor which takes
many men and women into
the various vegetarian and

1906.J

Editorial Comment.

537

other sects, or shuts them up
in rooms in monasteries and
convents, where they spend
years in worship and study.
* And many of our converts have
told of their long and ardent
search for a Savior, finding rest
only when they found Christ.

The most important point

of all for us to ponder is the

*v *i . ^i.x fact that the

IPract ca Cblnese ^^.^^^^^ ^^^^

flbtlstianftB. ^^,igi^„ f^^,^

the practical rather than the in-
tellectual or mystical side. We
are told by certain spiritual
Chinese, whose judgment we
thoroughly trust, that not a few
who have entered the church
have wished, after a time, that
they might honorably withdraw,
because they do not actually
see men's lives changed by the
Gospel in accord with the
preaching of the pulpit and
the promise of the Bible.
Let us as missionaries live up
to what we preach and lead
the Christians into that practi-
cal experience of the Spirit's
power to change the disposition
and mend faults. Spiritual
living, whether mystical or
not, is an intensely practical
matter. Actual Christianity
does attract the Chinese. If
we present the Christ-life to
the Chinese, not from the
pulpit or desk alone, but in
our lives, it will be repeated
and reduplicated. A people
so practical as the Chinese,
when they are actually made
over by Christ, may help
greatly to teach the world
what a living Christianity is.

^bc Tllnion
Brticlc5.

In our January and February
issues the subject of union was
referred to and proof
was given of the
many - sidedness of
the question. The publica-
tion of the three papers in
this number is tmiely in
view of the important position
given to the subject of comity
and federation in the Cen-
tenary Missionary Conference
programme printed in this
issue ; and also in view of
the approaching summer con-
ferences at the health re-
sorts. We feel that had Mr.
Mateer been able to carry out
his desire to attend the Pei-
tai-ho Conference, he might
have contributed to some of the
actions then taken. He might
possibly even have subscribed
to most of them.

* * *

Whilst many workers will

not be able to attend these

„„ , ... ^ conferences

XlnfonattbcSum. ^.f^.i^^,^

mcccontctcnces. that most of

them will be there in spirit.
We realise that when the
disciples returned from the mis-
sionary tour among the villages
of Galilee, our Saviour's in-
vitation was very welcome to
them : ' ' Come ye yourselves
apart into a desert place. ' ' No
CJiristian work can be well
done without long and frequent
communion with Christ, and
when a large number of workers
gather together in His Name for
prayer and conference, we feel
sure that the vSpirit of God will
be present and much lasting ben-
efit accrue. Possibly when it
comes to action on such topics

338

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

as union and federation some
summer conferences may take
themselves too seriously and
with a certain lack of perspec-
tive. But all their discussions
and suggestions clear the air,
and perhaps the partial failures
of some laudable efforts may
have an influence even more
lasting than if present success
had attended them. With
clearer minds and warmer
hearts more workable plans for
union, federation or co-opera-
tion may be presented.
* * *

With federation in the air

in many different countries we

_ , ^4.,. ^ believe there

Tanlon at tbc Cen* ... ,

^ * will be an

tcnar^ Contcrcnce. . -,

increased

study of the question by all
missionaries, and we look con-
fidently forward to an advance
step being taken by the General
Conference next year. Union,
not uniformity, on the basis
of essentials, is surely possible
in the native church. We have
no right to perpetuate here
differences which exist at home,
but which are not accepted
on their merits and with free
choice, after full study of the
pros and cons^ by the Chinese.
If we do, we shall have mixed
clay with iron and we shall
have built not Christ's pure
church, but an edifice full of
human separations. ' ' I am of
Paul," ''I am of Apollos,"
*'I am of Calvin," "I of
Wesley," " I of the Angli-
cans," ''I of the Non-con-
formists,"— Oh for a Paul with
authority to write to us Corin-
thian factionists. Yet it seems
that Christ's words, and above

all His prayers, ought to
suffice !

We trust that at the Centen-
ary Conference those present
will so rise to the *' higher
altitudes of faith and love and
prayer and devotion" that the
barriers that separate will be
shaken. As Mr. Speer once
remarked, "The best way to
heal some breaches is to bridge
them in higher air."

* * *

The printing of the articles

on Union, from time to time,

^ has enabled us

Explanation. *° ^Tf .."T
accurately the de-
sire for union, as well as to
learn those points on which
there is difference of opinion,
and regarding which explana-
tion might be made. We re-
commend to others what we
have done for ourselves, a care-
ful re-reading of the circular
issued by the Bible Societies
on the proposed ** Union"
terms for God and Spirit.
There is no attempt upon
the part of the Bible Societies
* ' to force out of the Bible
entirely the term which ex-
presses the conviction of a con-
siderable minority; and, instead,
force upon them a term which
they cannot conscientiously
use."

The Bible Societies are not
prepared to print editions of
the Bible with a new set of
terms, and at the same time
publish editions in all of the
other terms now in use. The
American Bible Society now
prints the Scriptures with the
terms SkSny Shang-ti (with
Shht for Spirit) and THen-

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

339

chu^ and tlie Society will
continue to print in these terms
until the missionaries have
agreed upon the best terms.
It is not proposed to force
anyone to adopt the suggested
'^ compromise terms." The
circulars sent around by the
Bible Societies do not ^''require
missions so to act as to bind
all their members to use
only the Bible with the com-
promise terms." The circular
letter explicitly states that the
Bible Societies ask the mis-
sionaries whether they "are
prepared to use editions of the
Mandarin version of the Bible
printed with the above terms
for God and Holy Spirit, a7id
not to call upon the Bible
Societies to print editio7ts with
other terms,^^ The letter also
plainly shows that this action
was not taken by the Bible
Societies on their own initia-
tive, but at the request of the
Peking Conference, and that its
purpose was to ascertain the
wishes of their constituents in
this matter.

* * Form I " to be used
when the vote of the Mission,
Conference or District Com-
mittee is binding upon its
members records the vote of
the Mission, Conference or Dis-
trict Committee and pledges
their members "to use such
editions of the Scriptures, and
to use them exclusively. ' ' That
is, not to call upon the Bible
Societies, in future, to publish
editions with the other terms.
The same is true of "Form II,"
in which the individual mission-
ary agrees to use such editions
exclusively. It was never

contemplated that Scriptures
now in the hands of mission-
aries or converts or the stock
in the depots of the Societies
should be discarded for the
others. The Bible Societies
would be the first to deprecate
such a waste. But the Bible
Societies have a right to know
that if the compromise terms
are agreed to by a practically
unanimous vote, their consti-
tuents will not call for editions
with the old terms after the
present stock is exhausted.

It will be interesting to our
readers to know that in the
replies received to the circulars
sent out by the Bible Societies
only one Mission — the Hankow
District of the London Mission
— and twelve individuals voted
against the change. The re-
plies represent thirty-six dif-
ferent Missionary Societies.
* * *

In our last issue we gave
some gleanings from the an-

ttbesmetfcan f"^V-tP°J* °i
^ix.t -^ 1 * the British and

Society. As the year is usual-
ly well advanced before the
American Bible Society figures
reach us from New York we
have, through the kindness of
Dr. Hykes, been favoured with
a perusal of the report sent
home by him. With Mr.
Bondfield, he sees a live con-
nection between the work of
the Bible Societies and the
native desire for more knowl-
edge and greater independ-
ence. Dr. Hykes believes that
China is entering upon a
new era — one pregnant with
great promise and at the same

340

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

time full of the greatest dang-
ers. He welcomes the rise
of the spirit of patriotism,
of which many thought the
Chinese quite incapable ; but
a wave of which appears now
to be sweeping over the whole
country. The drastic reforms
in the criminal code of the
country and other steps work-
ing evidently toward the aboli-
tion of extra-territoriality are
noted. Riot and restlessness
are not overlooked by Dr.
Hykes, but the report is a
hopeful one, because he knows
that in the Gospel the Bible
contains is the only possible
remedy for China.

* * *

This has been the record

year of the China Agency of

^ ^ .the A. B. S. in the
B IRecorD ^^^^^^ ^^ p^-^^.

^^^'- ing. A total of
549,600 volumes, comprising
39,000 Testaments and 510,600
portions, shows an excess of
195,100 books over the figures
for 1904. Bishop Schereschew-
sky has completed his long and
arduous labours in connection
with the complete Mandarin
Reference Bible ; the work is
in press and nearing comple-
tion. The following table may
be of interest in connection
with the term question : —
DiAi^ECT. Shangti. Shen.

Mandarin 315,000 131,000

Mand. & English ... 600

Classical 6,000 6,000

Canton Colloquial ... 1,000

Cant. & English ... 2,000

Easy W^n-li 20,000 51,000

Foochow Coll. 13,000

Sam-kiong ,, ... 3)000

Shanghai ,, ... 1,000

Soochow ,, ... 1,000

354,000 195,600

It may be noted here that no
Scriptures were printed this
year in the third term (Tien-
chu), in which the A. B. S.
supplies China. The direct
issues are the largest of any
year since the Society began
work in China, a total of
625,852 volumes being de-
spatched, and showing an ex-
cess over last year of 98,251
books. Comment is again
made on the growing demand
for complete Bibles and Testa-
ments. The returns of ac-
tual circulation are also satis-
factory, aggregating 537,304
copies of the Word — the first
time the half-million mark has
been passed.

To contemplate the future
influence of young men in
15. m, C. a. China is ^ both
Secretaries an inspiring
in Council, ^nd an alarming
exercise. They constitute an
unmeasured store-house of
potential energy which, like
Niagara, only wants harnessing
to be made effective for the
transformation of a nation's
life. Herein lies the inspira-
tion. But what turbines should
be used, how can they best be
introduced, and into what chan-
nels shall the gathered force
be directed ? It is in answer-
ing these questions that we
feel alarmed. Statesmen and
diplomats, merchants and pro-
moters, patriots and politicians,
Christians and infidels all have
their replies to make. But
among them all one of the
most hopeful, became one of
the most practical, is the so-
lution which is being offered

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

341

by the Young Men's Christian
Association. Organized speci-
fically for reaching young men,
equipped with facilities for
doing the work eflfectively, and
closely linked to all branches
of Protestant Christianity, it is
the united church of Christ
reaching out its hand to uplift
young men.

Less than eleven years ago
the first secretary of this move-
^ ^ '^ ment to China
^ ^Z was sent out to
®'°^"'- begin the task
of leading the Christian young
men of China to associate them-
selves in an enterprise for the
physical, mental and spiritual
good of their fellow young men.
Twenty-six more, from Canada
and England, as well as from
America, have since come out
and, except the two on fur-
lough, are now at work or
preparing for work, at eight
different centres in China,
Korea and Hongkong. The
recent gathering in Shanghai
of twenty of the twenty-seven
secretaries for a council of
war, as reported in our Mis-
sionary News columns, is an
event of interest to the entire
missionary body. The sub-
jects discussed have a direct
bearing on the whole mis-
sionary problem ; every point
of progress is the church's
progress ; every difficulty is
the church's concern. Surely
no missionary can fail to
remember in^ frequent prayer
this movement and the
young men for whom it is
working.

It is impossible to give space
to the graphic stories of deso-
^, ^ lation and sufFer-

jflooOs ^"^ caused by the

terrible floods in

the Siang Valley. Writing on

May 7th Mr. Gelwicks gives

the following epitome : —

Large areas of the most populous
sections of Hunan province have been
devastated by the w^orst flood of
almost a century. Both towns and
countr}^ districts have suffererl acutely.
Owing to the cheapness and instability
of the majority of Chinese buildings
thousands of houses lie in ruin. In
nuny thrifty towns scarcely a single
house remains intact. Much stored
provision is destroyed, vegetable gar-
dens laid waste, and an alarming
portion of the spring rice crop wiped
out. It is doubtful if there is time
for a second planting to mature. The
outlook is dark since the flood has
come unusually early, and June or
July may bring renewed floods, or on
the other hand drought may succeed
months of excessive rain.

From later details it is evi-
dent that the extent and viru-
lence of the calamity is worse
even than was at first reported.
Relief funds have been opened,
and in connection with them
we note the following names : —

Rev. A. L. Greig, treasurer of the
Relief Committee, care of Hongkong
and Shanghai Bank, Hankow.

Dr. Cormack, L. M. S., Shanghai.

Rev. Wallace Wilson, Chang-sha.

Dr. Wolfendale, Hankow.

Rev. Louis Byrde, Hankow.
* * *

Several times we have
drawn attention to this excel-
lent magazine, and
*' Cbina/' we regret to learn,
from the number to
hand, that the committee have
decided, for the present, to dis-
continue further issue. This
quarterly has been of inestim-
able value to all the Empire's
well-wishers and workers. The
contents in the four years have

342

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

been most varied. The sub-
jects of the literati and litera-
ture, the religions of China and
missionary methods, as well
as social questions, political
problems, and reform topics
have all been touched upon in
an able and interesting manner.
The personality of the editor,
Rev. J. Cumming Brown, is
markedly apparent all through,
even during his absence in the
East. With thankful apprecia-
tion we read his closing words
on his visit to this country : —

" The regeneration of China will be
the greatest triumph which Christian-
ity has known since the first Apostles
of The Crucified passed through the
gates of Jerusalem with their faces to-
wards the West. Blessed are the men
who have a share in it. I envy them."

We are glad to see that
the re-issue of that admirable
booklet, *'The Awakening of
China," is contemplated.

We had been preparing for

publication in this month's

issue particulars of

TRewal ^^^ revival in North-

mcbina. ^^^ j^^.^^^ .^^.^^^^_

ing the peculiar manifestations
accompanying that remarkable
movement, and showing that
wherever great blessing had
come men and women had
been previously giving them-
selves up to prayer in a new
way. But we received accounts
of revival and awakening in
North China, which seemed so
important that we forego the
references to India and enlarge
our Missionary News Depart-
ment to include the accounts
of the occurrences in Shantung
and Chihli. We have also heard
of much blessing in Nanking in

connection with the meetings

conducted by Di. Li recently.

We quote two testimonies from

private letters to hand : —

" We are having wonderful pouring
out of God's Holy Spirit, and many
convictions of sin and conversions,
through Dr. I^i's preaching. He has
wonderfully helped us missionaries
as well as the Chinese." "We had
wonderful scenes in three of the meet-
ings, the last two being each over two
hours long, and packed full with
testimonies, nearly or quite two
hundred persons speaking. The other
meeting was one in which, on his ask-
ing them to kneel and make confes-
sion of sin, great numbers prayed at
one time, not loudly or with confu-
sion, but each directly to God, and
often with tears."

Dr. H. A. Johnston tells us
of times of blessing in Wei-
hsien and elsewhere. In our
next issue we hope to print
fuller particulars. In this
connection we would like to
mention that Mrs. C. W.
Mateer is translating Dr.
Johnston's "Studies in Per-
sonal Work."

We had hoped in this issue

to give the promised picture

^ of the Mandarin

®ur r

^ ^, , company of re-

visers ; but an
unexpected delay postpones its
appearance to next issue. We
have pleasure in giving as our
frontispiece a picture of the
new hospital opened in connec-
tion with the English Method-
ist Mission, Wen chow (see
Missionary News, March issue).
This hospital was built with
funds supplied by Mr. Henry
Blythe, of Great Yarmouth.
The central block has three
floors whilst the wings have
two. The total length is 184
feet by 60 feet wide.

1906.]

Missionary News.

343

Missionary News.

We have been asked to inform
our readers that the Kuling
Convention will assemble on
Sunday, July 22nd, to Sunday,
July 29th, both days inclusive.

Foochow Choral Union.

ANNUAL FESTIVAL.

Those who were present on
Easter Monday, when the annual
■festival of the above Union took
place, will not soon forget the
sight presented to their gaze,
or the sound of those well-trained
voices, as they .sang piece after
piece from the varied programme.
Those who fancy that the Chinese
cannot be taught to sing as we
do, would have had to modify
their ideas on this point had they
been present on this occasion.

The choir consisted of some 800
boys and girls connected with our
various educational establish-
ments, while the instrumental
music was supplied by Miss
Bennett, Mrs. McLaughlin, Miss
Lambert and Messrs. Eyestone
and Gardner. Professor Jones
again conducted wnth his usual
ability, and the vast congregation
felt that only the most painstak-
ing work on the part of the
committee and officers could
have brought about such an
excellent result. We feel sure
that such efforts as these are of
far-reaching benefit in our mis-
sions, not only because they help
our people to realize what a
power music possesses, but also
because they lead to improve-
ment in the singing of the con-
gregations generally in our places
of worship, and so we say " Long
may the Union flourish."

Ll. Lloyd.

Conference of Secretaries

of the International Committee of

Young Men's Christian

Associations.

The first conference of the
China secretaries of the Interna-
tional Committee was held in the
autumn of 1901, during Mr.
Mott's last visit to this country ;
it was attended by five secretaries
in China and one in Korea. The
fifth conference assembled in
Shanghai last month (May 4-10),
and there were present eighteen
secretaries from six centres in
China, and two secretaries from
Korea. In addition to these
twenty foreign secretaries, five
Chinese and one Korean secre-
tary^ sat as members of the con-
ference throughout most of its
sessions. The following were
some of the main topics under
discussion : —

The present situation in China,
especially as it affects the work
of the Young Men's Christian
Association.

Fundamental principles which
should underlie association work
in the Far East.

The problem of the port cities.

Advance movements in the
student work as related to the
work already established.

The Chinese students in Japan.

The evangelistic arm of our
\A^rk.

Guiding principles in language
study, and how they may be
realized among our secretaries.

The summer conferences.

The Chinese secretaryship.

Present questions in the educa-
tional department of the work.

Financial administration of city
associations.

344

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

Strong and Important as were
the discussions, the most marked
feature of the program was the
Bible studies conducted by dif-
ferent secretaries. The keynote
of these studies was, " But ye
shall receive power." The perils
of power, faith the channel of
power, love the motive in the
use of power, prayer the source
of power, and humility the safe-
guard in the application of power
were among the themes brought
out. Every secretary returns to
his work with a freshly vivid
sense of the wealth of power that
is at his command, if he will but
fulfil the conditions for securing
and keeping it.

D. W. Iv.

Statistics for Fuh-kien Missions,

1905.
The following figures, collected
by the Rev. L,\. Lloyd, will be of
great interest to all students of
mission development in China.
It will be noticed : —

(i). That there are over
31,000 church members in good
standing.

(2). That there w^ere no less
than 3,430 baptisms last year, or
almost ten baptisms in each of
the 365 days.

(3). That there is one or-
dahied pastor for every 1,100
church members.

(4). That the total Christian
community, including adherents
and scholars, is over 100,000, or
about 90,000 if the scholars are
included amongst the adherents
or members.

(5). The contributions are
noteworthy, averaging for the
whole province $2.55 per member.
Two missions average about $5.50
per member, and the lowest con-
tribution is over $1 per member.

G. H. B.

a 't Jf

n

'*.:: 3 rt o c ==■

i> k-i -7. 1 "•

• 2,- c ft "fTi

Sr p-i r» en »^
W 3* o'

5 »0 i -t^ en OsOi *. ^

n o

5 "S?.

^ %S.2S?^

01 -OJ •- i-i

-1 04

stations.

Out-stations.

Baptisms, 1905.

Members.

C.1 Cj dj 4^ '•1

•1 obvi 00 o

A d/ierents.*

Cn ^4

Communicants.

w cil -^ 10 o Schools.

."^ _*^ J"* ^ O
Vl "(0 Oi "lO M

5) -^ 00 M 10

Scholars.

Ordained
Ministers.

Native

Contributions

/or all purposes.

A verage
o, 1 01 ^ vo 4. c/. Q 1 Contributions
Xa \ij* o -p^ va M &> I pey member.

Spiritual Awakening in
China.

I. T'sang-chou, Chihli.

By Dr. A. D. Peili..
At last it has come, the
"Revival" we sought, and far
beyond our asking. We cast
longing eyes on Wales no more,
but rejoice wdth her rejoicing,
because, in China too, the I^ord
is visiting His people. ** Revi-
val " is hardly the word to use,
for we w^ork in virgin soil. It
is rather the lifting of a veil from
eyes till now beclouded, the
new response of awaking hearts
to the "Still Small Voice"
within.

1906.]

Missionary News.

345

HOW IT STARTED.

For some days Mr. Yang had
been deeply concerned about the
state of the hospital students.
During the week of the L- M. S.
Chinese annual meetings they
had been impressed by the evident
power of God's Spirit in our
midst. But, now, those meetings
had long gone by, the delegates
had departed, yet the students
seemed no further on than they
were two weeks before. They
attended then as listeners only ;
was nothing more to come of it ?
Quietly Mr. Yang had got them
to start evening prayer together
in their rooms, and he often
came along himself to help as
best he could. But now here
was this fortnight gone and
nothing much had happened.
Was their interest to be a fleeting
thing ? Would it gradually fade
away ? He prayed silently on
and waited.

THE HOSPITAL STUDENTS.

There were nine hospital
students in residence at the time,
and at first only six met for
prayer. The other three held
aloof. One was a youth of
stunted development and some-
what uncertain temper (known
to us foreigners as " the Dwarf "),
who had estranged himself from
many. Efforts at peace-making
failed repeatedly and the breach
grew wider with every failure.
When the last-joined student
wished to try what he could do,
'• Little Yang " had told him the
case was hopeless and his worry
only vain. Of the others, one
was the ** Variegated Dragon,"
a clumsy country bumpkin, with
a certain amount of obnoxious
pride in his sole merit of Chinese
scholarship, and the other a
youth called Chao P'ei-lan, the
youngest of them all who had
been hesitatingly received as a

self - supporting student under
circumstances which cannot be
detailed here. His heathen
father had begged that this
favour might be done him to
save his clever son from going
wholly to the bad.

Of the six who met for daily
prayer "Little Yang" was a
younger brother of Mr. Yang,
our head preacher, and the other
five were : Chang Lan-t'ing,
already the better for his new
responsibility as senior ; the last-
joined, T'ien Chih-yiian, who
had been an assistant-preacher ;
a handsome, bright fellow called
Wang Ch'ang-ling; a capable,
" honest John" sort of lad called
Ch'eng Kuang-tsai, and a quiet
little plodder Lin Yu-wei.

ANSWERED PRAYERS.

One night, towards the end of
the fortnight, Chao P'ei-lau and
the *' Variegated Dragon " could
resist no longer and joined the
Httle band, but the "Dwarf"
grew ever more bitter and angry
as day by day went past. He
burst in on the others to ask
them what they meant by
praying and making him
miserable, and sat gloomy
in his lonely room whilst his
fellow-students sought God's
blessing for him as well as
themselves.

His uneasiness grew till he
could no longer sit still, but
paced restlessly to and fro in the
compound whilst the others
were at prayer, and then the
Mimax came. After a Sunday
of extraordinary interest, No-
vember 1 2th, 1905, the students
met as usual before going off to
sleep. And the Dwarf came in
and joined them !

For a moment no one spoke.
Then "Little Yang" broke the
silence suddenly saying : ' * Not
a word of talk to each other ;

346

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

let all kneel and confess to
God ! " They, knelt and prayed
and wept for long. God's Spirit
was working in their hearts and
they let Him have His way.
Mr. Yang came along to join
them in prayer and heard the
unwonted crying. A look
through the window showed all
on their knees ; the Dwarf
broken down with the rest.
Yang didn't enter, but returned
to his room beside himself with
gladness and caught himself
actually shouting aloud, " Thank
the Lord! Thank the Lord!!
Thank the Lord!!!"

HARMONY.

The students rose at last
from their knees to make up all
their quarrels, and next day a
couple of them w^ere seen going
off across the fields. They were
"enemies" seeking a quiet spot
to unite their hearts in prayer.

WITNESSING.

At early morning prayers
next day they were full of their
cheering story and full of the
Power so divine that had swept
away their discord. Several
spoke of their own new sense of
sin. They had never, hitherto,
realised that the}^ were really
sinners, and had rather plumed
themselves indeed on being
above the average. But now
they felt how bad they were and
sought the Lord's forgiveness.

We heard not long after of
Chao P'ei-lan that he had
openly expressed disgust at
Christianity and his entire
disbelief in the Bible. He had
held the latter open in his hand,
and had said that only the rules
of the place prevented him from
reviling it in token of contempt.
But that morning he said he
now knew there was a God who

heard and answered prayer.
He said he had made many good
resolutions, but there were serious
difhculties ahead, and finished by
asking all there present to
remember him in prayer.

THINGS SOON BEGAN TO HUM.

This band of united and
earnest young men soon began to
make things hum. For a while the
ordinary routine of the hospital
went on as usual and classes
w^ere held as before, but the
leaven was working in all
directions, and we speedily
found indications of its action.
The longed for "Revival" had
reall}' come, which has meant
so much for T'sang-chou.

[We have given the beginning
of the story as told by Dr. Peill ;
limitations of space compel us to
give extracts only of the remain-
ing part. — Ed. Recorder.]

Some days before, volunteers had
been asked for from the students to
preach to the patients in the wards
and in the nearer villages. It was
explained that forced preaching was
almost useless and that only really
willing men were wanted. To the
youngsters it was an ordeal ; one had
said : " I want to do it, indeed, I've
tried, but all my ideas go when I get
on my feet, and I've nothing left to
say." It was only a few days after
that he preached till 2 a.m.

PKRSONAI, TESTIMONY.

The influence of all these doings
was rapidh^ reaching farther still.
November 15th was Wednesday, when
the united week-evening meeting is
held. . . Mr. Yang led, reading 2 Thess.
i. II. 12, and after a few telling words
asked the hospital students to testify
to the power of God as they had come
to experience it for themselves. One
after another the young fellows rose,
though most of them had never
spoken in public like this before, and
simply related the events of the last
few days. They spoke of their con-
viction of sin and of the power and
joy in their hearts, giving proof of the
truth of what they said from their
actual personal experience

1906.]

Missionary News.

347

There was much earnest prayer for
those who were still to speak. . . .
The fire was well alight now . . . and
several had decided for a life of con-
secration. . . Meanwhile, the preach-
ing fever was growing day by day.

THE PREACHING FEVER.

Singly or in little bands the students
went out, to the villages round, from
both institute and hospital. Soon
the older school boys went out too,
then the class of " Bible- women,"
and ere long the smaller boys were
represented also. Their experiences
were varied and interesting. INTr.
Chang went and preached in a shop
in the city, where he was laughed
at . . . then quietly listened to.
Some of the younger enthusiasts went
to a village near by and were reviled
by some drunken roysterers, who
made fun both of them and of their
preaching. They returned crestfallen,
desirous to have tlie men punished,
but were lauglied at for their notions
of what disciples should do under
persecution, whilst Mr. Chi told them
God was sure to have good for them
in it if they w^ould only trust Him and
pray on. This they did, and their
faith was much stimulated next day
when a deputation of village elders
came, of their own accord, to apolo-
gise for the rowdies' conduct and
assure them of a hearty welcome if
they would only come again.

That same da}- many others were
preaching also in a number of differ-
ent directions, and so it was day by
day. Everywhere there are people
prepared to listen. A Christian or
enquirer will ask some willing worker
to his home and seek his friends and
neighbours that they may hear the
Truth, and already in many places
round us there is talk of a regular
meeting. Among the soldiers, too,
good work was done.

ONE OF THE VICTORIES.

[With regard to the quickening of
a Mr Yii we read] : One and another
prayed, and then at last a broken
sound came from the lips of Yii. In
intermittent gasps he prayed and cried
aloud for mercy, confessing sins of
many years in an agony of weep-
ing. . . [He testified the next day
that] when his very teeth were set
and his will bent on stern resistance,
a Power unseen, and not his own had
compelled unwilling prayer. The
door of his heart was forced ajar and
the Spirit had won the fight. He
stood amazed at the wondrous force

that had swept his defence away, and
in less than a moment made an end
of all his cherished plans. . . . The
meeting lasted for nearly three hours
whilst we began to realize God's
mighty purpose and to know that this
revival must have issues beyond our-
selves and be fraught with priceless
blessings to untold souls besides.

MR. BRYSON'S testimony.

[With regard to a tour to the south
and east we quote the words of Mr.
Bryson , who was present at Yen-shan] :
"After a hymn had been sung Mr.
Yang spoke a few brief sentences
dwelling on the great hindrance to
the Holy Spirit's power- sin in the life
of the Christian — and calling upon
the meeting for a full surrender of
the individual will to Him. Tliere
was a brief pause, and then Mr. Yang's
old father, a respected deacon and a
Christian of many years' standing,
broke out into a pathetic plea for
mercy and forgiveness. He laboured
under strong emotion, and his voice
came in deep gasps until at last he
broke down utterly and sobbed like
a little child. Simultaneously a con-
viction of sin seemed to fall upon
every heart in the chapel, and in a
moment the place was shaken with
the sobbing of strong men, crying
aloud to God for mercy. It was a
never-to-be-forgotten experience, and
we separated for the duties of the day
with a subdued sense of God's power,
such as none of us had felt before."
In every place there was blessing
close following on earnest prayer. . .
Preaching to the heathen was a mark-
ed sign of the new life. There is a
new spirit of life and activity in the
churches and a new sense of respon-
sibility and unity.

"NO ONE PRAYING FOR ME."

[Of blessing during the week of pray-
er we read] : By and bye some went
about amongst the rest, seeking those
to whom they felt they might be use-
ful, and one of these knelt down
beside the strangers. He talked and
j#ayed with a servant there who
badly needed help, and was just
about to go elsewhere when one of
the newcomers clutched his arm,
"Why don't you pra}' for me?" he
said, " I've come loo //. There's no
one praying for me." It was close
on II p.m. before that meeting closed,
and it began at 5.30. On Wednesday
the prayer was more striking still in
this land till of late unpatriotic.
Mighty gusts of prayer almost literal-

348

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

ly shook the room for the P'mperor,
the Empress-Dowager, and China. . .
The whole meeting rose when asked
who would make this a regular sub-
ect for prayer, and the singing of
national hymns that night stirred
one's blood to hear and see. . . .
Consecration for God to use in His
work came naturally into prom-
inence, and forty or fifty volunteered
for service just when and where God
wills. . . Little Yang said : " Do not
laugh at me when I say that we can
save China. Prayer can do it, and
we can pray ! " Chao P'ei-lan added,
" True, God can use even onr person
to save China, only let us never
forget that it is not the man, but God
IN the man that does it."

PITHY ILI.USTRATIONS.

Some of the illustrations used in
the meetings were striking as well as
helpful. i\Ir. Yii combatted the too
common notion tliat individuals could
not expect to maintain their fervour
apart from crowds and meetings by
saying : "It is not a case of the
charcoal fire going out when its
embers are scattered, but rather of
the one little red hot piece that sets
all the cold ones glowing. " Mr. Chi
said that men were a good deal like
silkworms, bound fast in cocoons of
sin which with careful toil we our-
selves had spun, till helpless in the
meshes. Like them we need a new,
strong life, to free us from our prison
and send us forth on new-found wings
to enjoy the air of heaven. He com-
pared Christ and Christians to a
magnet and iron filings. The nearer
the filings are to the magnet the
closer they stick to each other ; and
the further they are removed there-
from the less they hold together. It
is not the noise of the wind in the
wires that carries the unseen message,
and the quiet voice in the hearts of
men is better than many sermous.

And what about the net result ?
The net result is life. Life in
church and schools and hospital, at
head-quarters and far afield. One
new, common, throbbing life, linking
all the separate parts, bringing to
each a sense of individual respon-
sibility and to all some vision of
organic interdependence and the vital
need for oneness. A life that has its
source in Christ and links up all with
Him.

Will those who read our cheering
news join us in glad thanksgiving
and pray that we may work aright
to pass the blessing on ?

II. Shantung.
By Rev. T. N. Thompson.

While reports are being made of
great revivals in other lands and
places, it seems to me but right to
record a work truly born of the Spirit
of God taking place in this part of
Shantung, not far removed from
Tsingtau and covering a part of four
•• hsieus."

I came to Tsingtau last fall from
the interior, and in a short time
went to the country. I was at once
impressed with the spirtual fervor of
the people among whom I found my-
self. One of the native pastors in the
first district visited, was in charge of
a work which extended among forty
or more villages. The first place
where I stopped was the centre of a
group of twenty-six villages, where
there were Christians. At that place
a church has been organized with a
membership of 200 to start with. In the
last three months three new churches
have been added in that district, and
in the same length of time fifty-four
members have been admitted to the
church. This is all in what is practic-
ally new territory, as there has only
been regular work done here during
the last few years.

After this first short visit to the
country I was not able to leave this
city till February first of this year,
when at the invitation of the native
pastors I went out into another part
of the field and assisted in revival
and conference meetings. Indeed the
manifest presence of the Spirit of God
in these meetings, seven in all, has
been remarkable.

At Ta-hsin-t'an, where there has
been a woeful lack of harmony among
the Christians and even open quarrel-
ing, the people were greatly moved by
the Spirit of God, falling to the floor
and crying out to God for mercy
because of their sins. Many of the
night meetings were held till nearly
midnight. The people quickly raised
the money to call a pastor. He is now
with them. Besides this they raised a
sum to help the poor in other parts of
the field. Since then eleven have been
added to this church.

At the next village called Liu-kia-
ch'ioa we also held four days of
special meetings in a large tent seat-
ing about six hundred people. It was
full at almost every service. Our
"Sunrise Prayer - meetings " were
special features of the work. Often-
times they lasted for three hours or
more. One at this place lasted from

i

1906.J

Missionary News.

349

6,30 a.m. till I p.m. without intermis-
sion ; no one feeling willing to close a
meeting which was led by the Spirit
Himself. The confessions of sins,
prayers for forgiveness and intercessory
prayers for their own friends, poured
forth by the Christians, showed that
they realized how shallow their Chris-
tian lives had been, and they were
irresistibly led by the Spirit to seek
forgiveness.

I have never seen outsiders so
impressed by the reality of the Chris-
tian religion as at this place. Nor have
I ever preached to the " heathen "
who were so much interested as those
outside the church in that village.
Since those meetings fifteen at that
village have enrolled themselves as
inquirers.

At our next place lawsuits, managed
in the name of the church, had played
havoc with all spiritual life. Not a
woman could pray. Only one or two
had unbound their feet. Girls' schools
could not be opened, as the parents
of the children wanted their little
girls to spend their time making
straw-braid. A few days of prayer
and conference, talks on the evils of
foot-binding, and the care and nurture
of children, brought a change of view.
One morning a prayer-meeting of five
and one-half hours broke down the
power of Satan and the Spirit of God
ruled. All claims at law were aban-
doned. Almost 100 tiao small cash
were given to cover the expenses of the
meetings and provide for the opening
of girls' country schools. Since that
time three have been provided.

At Sung-kia-chwang less strenuous
meetings have been held, but the
results are worth recording. Twenty-
three women have unbound their feet
at that place as the result of the con-
viction that it was a sin. Sixteen
persons in open meeting all in one
night asked to be enrolled as catechu-
mens. This place also bought a bell
for the chapel and raised sixteen tiao
as a permanent Bible fund ; one of
their own men freely to give his time
to selling Bibles at no profit.

From this place we went to Sha-
kou. Here the story of many interior
stations had been repeated for years.
There had been a preaching place
there for thirty-eight years and a
church almost as long. Fourteen
pastors, native and foreign, had at
various times visited that place and
exercised a sort of pastoral care over
it. But the constant drain of its
young men and women, educated in
our schools, off to other places had

left only a bad sediment behind.
Not one Christian would speak to
another ; all had been placed on proba-
tion by the foreign pastors and were
promising candidates for expulsion.
One man confessed that he had not
prayed or read his Bible for eighteen
years. Others, graduates of our col-
lege in the north, had come back
home and sunk into sin. Three
weeks of meetings were held here.
Certainh^ nothing but the Spirit of
God could have wrought the change.
Now they have opened a girls' school
there with thirteen scholars, also a
boys' school with an enrollment of
thirty. Three women at that place
have begun studying in order to
qualify themselves as Bible-women.
All this expense, including the salary
of their native pastor, is borne by the
people themselves. At this place last
year it was with great difficulty that
ten tiao small cash k.c. were raised
to repair the chapel roof. Now they
have themselves contributed almost
ten times that amount.

Our next meeting was held in a
portion of the field near to Tsingtau,
where the mighty veteran Dr. Corbttt
has worked so long. Here a strong
church has been established, but cold-
ness and formality had usurped the
place of warmth and religious fervor.
Here three young men, who had back-
slidden to a wonderful degree, were
brought back. One had only gotten
out of jail after three years' confine-
ment and coming to the meetings was
restored as a prodigal to the home.
He is one of the best educated men of
that district, having a good knowledge
of both English and German as well
as a full course in our college at Teng-
chow. The meetings at this place
were filled with the Spirit of God.
The last night's meeting closed at 2
a.m. Here the people, almost unsoli-
cited as it were, contributed twenty-
five tiao toward all expenses. I have
never seen outsiders more interested
than here.

These meetings were entirely free
from any false excitement. The
<6pirit of God was recognized as the
Leader throughout. As far as human
leaders were concerned, we foreigners,
only two in number in most places,
let the Chinese pastors manage it all
and the Spirit of God used them as
His own. The people have been
taught here for three or four years
that they 'must not depend upon the
foreign church as heretofore for aid
especially in ' a financial way. An
effort has been made to get Chinese

350

The Chinese Recorder,

[June,

pastors established everywhere. The
people are learning their own stfen<<th
and also the strength of the native
pastor. Above all they are learning
through faith and prayer to trust in
God.

The Chinese church in this district
is being laid on a very firm founda-
tion. I could wish nothing better
than that all the country churches in
the Empire might get such a blessing
as has come to these districts just
mentioned.

Notes from the Union
Synod.

The Synod of Central China, which
has hitherto been connected with the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A. (North) met
at Nanking on the 24th of May, and
after two days of conference with mem-
bers of the Kiang-tseh Presbytery
(South) and with members of the
Southern Presbyterian Mission, it was
unanimously agreed to dissolve con-
nection with the American General
Assembly and to unite in a union
synod. This union synod was or-
ganized Saturda}-, May 26th, and
includes the Presbyteries of Hang-
chow, Kiang-tseh, Nanking, Ningpo
and Shanghai. All, except Kiang-
tseh, have hitherto been connected
with the Northern Assembly. It is
hoped that the Southern and Northern
ministers and churches at Nanking,
Chiukiang and at points north of
the Yangtsze in Kiangsu and Anhui
will organize two union Presbyteries
later on, and that the Presbyterian
churches of Hunan, connected with
the northern assembly, with the China
Inland Mission, and with the Cumber-
land Presb3^terian churches, will
organize another presbytery and enter
the union synod. The Presbyterian
churches connected with the Church
of Scotland Mission in Hupeh have
been invited to organize and join with
the others. The united synod would
then have some 6,000 members and
sixty churches. Each presbytery is
allowed to determine its own condi-
tions of membership, and in some
presbyteries foreign members will
retain their connection with the home
churches, while having full voting
privileges in the Chinese presbyteries.
The cable brought congratulations
from the American assemblies, and a
beautiful spirit of love and fellowship
prevails.

J. A. S.

English Methodist Mission,
North China.

The annual District Meeting
of the above Mission was held
this year at Yung-p'ing-fu, un-
der the presidenc}^ of the Rev.
G. T. Candlin, Chairman of the
District, commencing on Satur-
da3^ March 24th. The sessions
began with a meeting of the
Native Preachers' Provident
Society, which was organized
eleven years ago, and \vhich is
intended to provide assistance to
preachers' families in times of
sicknCvSS or death, and also
provide superannuation allow-
ances when by reason of infirmity
or old age a preacher is com-
pelled to resign from active
work. The fund is sustained by
the subscriptions of the preachers
themselves, supplemented by an
annual grant of ^5 from the
Mission, and has prospered so
well that it now has a capital of
Taels 2,300 and an income from
all sources of Taels 360 per year.

Public services were conducted
on Sundaj^ March 25th, by the
Revs. G. T. Candlin and Chang
Chih-san and Mr. Li Ngan-su ;
on Wednesday, March 28th, by
the Rev. F. B. Turner, Mr.
Candlin administering the Sacra-
ment of the Lord's Supper ; while
on Sunday, April ist, the
Chinese service was conducted,
by Mr. Turner and the English
by Mr. Candlin. At all the
services there w^ere ver}^ large
attendances; the native Christians
in the Yung-p'ing district turn-
ing out in great force to the first
annual meeting held at their
city.

The native session was held
on Monday, March 26th, when
among other things a scheme for
a new chapel at Yung-p'ing was
launched by the opening of a
subscription list among the

1906.]

Missionary News.

551

Christians themselves; Mr. I^i
Ngan-su was recommended as a
suitable candidate for ordination
to the ministry ; a new cause
w^as reported as being opened
at Hsien-shui-ku in the Tientsin
circuit, where the entire expense
of chapel, preacher's salary, and
all incidental expenses are being
borne by a wealthy Christian
merchant who entered the church
at Newchwang, but is wishful
to have the Christian church
established in his native town ;
while an elder of the Yung-
p'ing-fu church made a special
request for the services of Mr.
Li Ngan-su to open up work
at Shih-men on almost exactly
similar conditions to the above.

The returns for the year show-
ed that in the five circuits of
Chihli and Shantung there are
now 213 chapels, 96 societies,
2,710 Chinese Christians, 1,634
probationers, ten foreign mis-
sionaries, sixty-nine native help-
ers (paid either by the Mission
or from native subscriptions),
ten female helpers, eighty-four
unpaid lay preachers, one training
institution, three intermediate
schools; forty-two boys' schools
with 458 scholars and two girls'
schools with fifty-three scholars.
There have been baptized during
the year 252 males, seventy females
and ninety children under twelve
years of age, w^ho of course are
not reckoned in the membership.
The increase of members for the
year is 317, with forty-five more
probationers than last year.
Medical work has been carried
on at Lao-ling under Dr. Jones ;
Wu-ting-fu under Dr. Marshall ;
Yung-p'ing-fu under Dr. Baxter,
while the Rev. J. K. Robson,
M.D., has continued his evangel-
istic and medical itineration in
Tong-shan district.

A new church has been built
at Tientsin at a cost of Taels

3,500, and a new dispensary at
Yung-p'ing at a total cost of
Taels 2,200, while a large build-
ing scheme is in process at
Wu-ting-fu, in Shantung, under
the Rev. W. Eddon and Dr. F.
W. Marshall. It was decided to
have the electric light installed
in the new church at Tientsin,
in order to permit of work in the
evenings among the young mer-
chants and students in the city.

By far the most important
step taken in the meeting was
the unanimous and enthusiastic
acceptance of the invitation from
the Methodist Episcopal Mission
to unite with them in education-
al work at Peking ; this involving
the transfer of the theol-
ogical institution from Tientsin
to Peking. It was felt that
the time had come for the two
Methodist Churches of North
China to join forces, and after
long and careful consideration,
a scheme was drawn up for
submission to the Home Com-
mittee which, if approved, will
come into operation a year hence.
Mr. Candlin was unanimously
designated as the first repre-
sentative of the Mission in the
Union Theological Seminary,
and along with the Rev. John
Hedley, was appointed to attend
the Annual Conference of the
M. E. M. at Peking on October
3rd.

Mr. Candlin was again recom-
mended as Chairman of the
District, and the Rev. F. B.
Turner as Financial Secretary,
Or. F. W. Marshall being the
Recording Secretary for the
ensuing year. The sessions ter-
minated on Saturday, March 31st,
with thanks to the hosts and
hostesses, thus bringing to a
close one of the most successful
gatherings of recent years.

John H^di^ey.

352

The Chinese Recorder.

[June,

Chinese Convention in
Chu-cheo.

BY RKV. WILLIAM REMFRY HUNT.

The annual convention of the
native churches of the Central
China Christian Mission was held
March 9-12 in Chu-cheo, An-
hwei province. It was a time of
much spiritual blessing. It was
unique in its personnel, its pro-
gramme and in its arrangements.
There were delegates and mem-
bers from Shanghai, Tsung-ming,
Tung-cheo, Nanking, Kiang-pu,
Tswein-tsiao, Wuhu, Wu-wei-
cheo, Lii-cheo-fu, Bo-cheo, and
the churches of the Chu-cheo
district. Members of sister mis-
sions fraternized with us, and
with good management, unanim-
ty, system and willingness, the
proceedings from beginning to
end were marked with the most
commendable aids of grace, grit
and gumption.

Since the churches of Chu-cheo
had invited the convention to
its district, it was laid up to
them to entertain their guests.
There were in attendance some
one hundred and fifty members
and selected enquirers. These
were housed, and fed by the
native churches. The sessions
were held in the Central Chris-
tian Church ill Chu-cheo city.

One of the most interesting
features of the whole of the pro-
ceedings was the fact that it
was a native conve7i*ion^ entirely
separate from the annual conven-
tion of the missionaries of the
F.C.M.S., enmasse. They real-
ised it was theirs, as one of the
native brethren said in Chinese :

^P flii A *.

In this necessarily terse state-
ment of the proceedings one
can only get a mere glance
at the convention : but such

meetings are the common in-
terest not only of the whole
church in China, but in the
whole world. In his president-
ial address Pastor Chen Li-seng
reviewed the growth, struggles
and triumphs of the work in
general during the past decade,
and in particular during the past
year. His remarks were force-
ful and apt. He emphasised the
thrill of joy which is coming
to the church in realising that
it is its own. Self-support, self-
reliance, Y. P. S. C. E. work,
training of evangelists, tours of
the churches, systematic work
in itinerary, etc., etc., were sub-
jects made to bristle with fact
and appeal. One of his almost
epigrammatic sentences was nail-
ed on the doorpost of unity and
strength ; he said: '' ^i: ffc-g",

Addresses were also given on
the following topics : — '' What
shall be our attitude toward
the present intellectual awak-
ening?'* "First principles in
self-support," "Ideal methods
in evangelism," *' Whole-hearted
service and not waste of time in
church work," etc., etc. One
hundred and forty-seven attend-
ed Sunday school. Lord's day
sermon was preached by Rev.
Alexander Paul, of Lii-cheo-fu.
Six bands of evangelists, with
assigned topics, conducted a
splendid open-air campaign, led
by Dr. E. I. Osgood, on Lord's
day afternoon. During this in-
terval at the church building
some three hundred women and
children attended a well-ordered
evangelistic meeting, led by
Misses Kelly and Lyon, assisted
by the Bible-women in the main
building.

Sunday evening witnessed a
beautiful gathering of the native

1906.]

Missionary News.

353

co-workers and members in the
church. The platform was taste-
fully decorated. ' * MIZP AH ' ' in
English and Chinese adorned the
centre piece. It was the occa-
sion of Dr. and Mrs. Osgood's
farewell meeting. The evangel-
ists had prepared an artistic ban-
ner for presentation, accompanied
with nice scrolls inscribed with
eulogistic and congratulatory
language. Dr. and Mrs. Osgood
were invited upon the platform
by the evangelists and members,
and the president of convention,
Mr. Chen Li-seng, made a very
appropriate speech and the pre-
sentation. The senior evangelist,
Shi Kwei-piao, the renowned
Chinese storyteller, wound up
the drama of the evening with
one of his apt and earnest orations
on the joys of service, the cost
of service and the certainty of its
rewards.

It was at the close of the morn-
ing session that Dr. and Mrs.
Osgood and family were to
leave. The Christians had ar-
ranged all. They were boomed
and fired out of the city with
tens of thousands of fire-crackers.
The procession was quite a scene.
One incident, insignificant in
itself, but bespeaking volumes,
was the action of six of the
stalwarts among the farmer
members ; the chair bearers,
thinking it was an unusual affair,
and a chance to blackmail ex-
orbitant prices per capita for
carrying the chair, made a tem-
porary lull and looked, only as
Chinese can, c-a-s-h ! With a
strategic move the six stalwarts
smartly shouldered the chair and
made a bolt for the boat by the
river side, where the family em-
barked for Nanking.

The treasurer reported $599.23
(Mex.) raised for all purposes.
The secretary reported member-
ship 844.

On Monday evening Dr. W. E.
Macklin arrived and gave his
lecture to the convention and to
the assembled students and peo-
ple. His subject was one dealing
with the present religious, com-
mercial and political renaissance
in China. The doctor dealt with
it in the broadest possible way,
emphasising the need of a pure
and well balanced national spirit ;
and above all the need of discrimi-
nation between the husk and the
essence in religious science. He
urged upon the students and the
people to earnestly study history
and religion, and above all the
religion of Christ, which is the
only safe, salutary, scientific and
sublime remedy to meet the pre-
sent unrest and the changes which
are now with us and which are
so full of significance.

The value and use of local
conferences was a profitable dis-
cussion, all the churches agree-
ing to such a programme. One
of the new features for ensuing
years will be the preparation of
a carefully prepared epistle to
the whole of the churches of the
convention dealing with a resume
of the year's service in China, a
retrospect of our own growth,
statement of difficulties, triumphs,
etc., and the attitude of the
country generally to the religious
activities of our churches. The
letter is to be prepared annually
by the president elect of the
convention, and it is to be print-
ed and circulated among the
whole of the membership. Each
5«ar the convention will elect its
representative in each of the
churches to make a special
itinerary (^ jg) in its respective
district, visiting each home and
encouraging and inspiring the
members to higher ideals in
society, the church and the
home. It was agreed that where
possible, and when the native

354

The Chinese Recorder.

[June, 1906.

churches are ready for it, the
native pastor . live in premises
adjacent to the church, so that
he can receive members, have
time for study, be with the
superintending missionaries and
grow up in the work. Some of
the sayings of the members in
discussions were worthy of seri-
ous consideration. " Slaves will
work perfunctorily and protect
their master's home, but let
brigands threaten life and they
will run like hounds; sons will

serve for the love and dignity of
service, and because it is their
own inheritance, then let armed
enemies attack and, behold ! there
is a desperate and honorable
war." This, of course, was said
in reference to the fact that
Christianity is as much the re-
ligion of the Chinese as it is of
other States. Another member
said: " We must be prepared for
the time when the responsibilties
will be placed in our own hands,
because the days are evil."

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

At Kuen-cheo, April I3tli, to Rev. and

Mrs. L. Kristensen, N. L. M., a

daughter (Esther Maud Aleksan-

dra).
At Kwai-ping, Kwangsi, April 23rd,

the wife of Rev. John E. Fee, C.

and M.A., of a son (John Glover).
AT Yangchow, 5th Mav, to Dr. and

Mrs. P. S. Evans, Jr., S. B. C, a

daughter.
AT Shanghai, 9th May, to Rev. and

Mrs. Frank Rawi^inson, S. B. C,

a son (Frank).
At Siang-tan, Hunan, 14th May, to

Rev. and Mrs. Gilbert Lovell,

A. P. M., a son (Leander Bell).
AT Ka-shing, 17th Mav, to Rev. and

Mrs. H. Maxcy Smith, A. P. M. S.,

a son (H. Maxcy, Jr.).

Marriages.

AT Yun-cheng, Shansi, 5th May, L.

H. E. LiNDER and Miss M. C.

Bordson, both of C. I. M.
At Ningpo, 8th May, Rev. Walter

RoBBiNS (Taichow) and Miss

Marie Louise Woodruff, both of

C. M. S.

DEATHS.

AT Montevideo, Minn., U. S. A.,
5th April, NicoLiNE Dahl, wife of
Rev. I. DaehlEN, Am. Luth. Mis.,
Hankow, aged 29 years, 6 months
and 9 days.

AT Shanghai, 29th April, infant son
of Mr. and Mrs. Gracie, C. I. M.,
aged 9 weeks.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai : —

28th April. Rev. H. A. H. Lea,
M.A., and Mrs. Lea, C. I. M.

7th May. Miss Olsen, Am. Luth.
Mis., Hankow.

1 2th May. Rev. F. A. Allum and
wife. Seventh Day Adventist Mission,
for Honan.

departures.

From Shanghai • —

7th April. Dr. and Mrs. Richard
Smyth, C. M. S., for England.

2ist April. Mr. and Mrs. W S.
Strong and child, C. I. M., for New
Zealand.

5th May. Miss S. Bjorgum, N. L.
M , for Europe via America; Mr. and
Mrs. J. Falls, Miss P. R. DeLong,
for North America, Miss A. Gibson,
Miss G. Rees, Mr. and Mrs. G. A.
Rogers and child, for England, all
of C. L M.; Rev. and Mrs. E. C.
Smyth, E. B. M., for England ; Rev.
and Mrs. Alex. Waite and child, A.
P. M., forU. S. A. ; Rev W. A. Main,
wife and family, M. E. M., for U.S.A.

1 2th May. Rev. and Mrs. R. F.
Fitch and family, A. P. M., for
U. S. A. i

14th May. Rev. and Mrs. W. E. I
Crocker and child, S. B. C, for ■
Scotland.

2lst May. Miss E. M. Lyon, m.d.,
M. E. M., for U. S. A.; Miss E.
Stevens, M. E. M., for Australia via
U. S. A. and England.

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'^5E

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. JULY, 1906. NO. 7.

The Study of the Japanese Language.

BY REV. D. C. GREENE, D.D., TOKYO.

[Note. — This article is an abridgment, by Dr. Greene's kind permission, of
a most valuable paper published in connection with a suggested course of
study for the use of new missionaries to Japan. It is so full of wise counsel for
all who are studying any of the East Asiatic languages that we feel sure a large
number of our readers will be glad of the privilege of studying its helpful
suggestions. — Ed. Recorder.]

WHILE it may be acknowledged at the outset that great
good has been accomplished by persons unacquainted,
or but slightly acquainted, with the Japanese lan-
guage, it will be universally admitted that no one entering upon
the duties devolving upon a missionary ought to content him.self
with anything short of a thorough knowledge of the colloquial
and of the current form of the book language. It is not suffi-
cient to be able to carry on conversation with one^s associates,
or even to be able to make an address which may be understood
by an average audience. One must be able also to read easily
the current literature, and to express his thoughts naturally
both in speaking and in writing. It certainly would not be
wise for a foreigner to dispense with an amanuensis ; but there
will always be a certain amount of correspondence which it is
desirable that each one should do for himself. One who is
dependent upon another in Ms correspondence will inevitably
miss opportunities which would otherwise open with much
promise.

It is much the same in formal composition. It is of grave
importance that a missionary should not be forced to write his
thoughts in English which must be rendered into Japanese
before publication. Of course, no foreigner can be independent

356 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

of Japanese assistance when he undertakes composition in the
Japanese language ; but he may reasonably hope to acquire a
degree of skill comparable to that to which a German, or a
Frenchman, aspires when he sets about the acquisition of the
English language. This does not mean that the foreigner must
write out his thoughts in Japanese script, or even that he must
write them out at all ; but he ought to be able at least to dictate
them to his assistant in a language sufficiently near to that of
the contemplated text, so that much of his own personality will
appear in that text. The best work yet done by missionaries in
the line of compOvSition has been done in this way, and some of
it has been excellent work. Some has, it is true, been done
through translations ; but good translators are very rare. I
have in mind tracts prepared in the way I have suggested,
which have had remarkable success, — a success which could not
have been approached through a translation. Nothing short of
that can put a religious teacher in Japan in normal relations
to the Japanese people. No missionary, in view of the helps
to the study of the language now provided, ought to aim at
anything less.

It may be said that a course which assumes that all students
must follow the same path to the same goal is for this reason
faulty. There is no doubt something to be said for such
criticism, but until students are well advanced in the third
year, and have well laid their foundations, specialisation will
be found, on the whole, a mistake.

Any course of study for students of the Japanese language
must aim to do four things, namely, it must provide for: — (i)
Training the ear to recognise promptly and accurately the tones
and tone combinations of the language ; (2) training the vocal
organs to reproduce those tones and combinations ; (3) training
the mind to appreciate the new order of thought and to arrange
its own thoughts instinctively in the same order ; (4) training
the eye to recognise and the hand to reproduce the symbols by
which the language is recorded. While these points are
logically distinct, chronologically they belong together. Any
system of instruction which at whatever stage neglects any one
of them is in so far forth unsatisfactory.

The training of the ear is of fundamental importance, and
no pains should be spared to make it efficient. If the ear once
fully recognises a sound it will be found that the vocal organs,
unless they are physically defective, will have no serious

1906.] The Study of the Japanese Language. 557

difficulty in reproducing that sound clearly and distinctly.
Hence the stress should from first to last be laid upon the
training of the ear, though, of course, the vocal organs must be
constantly exercised.

In training the mind to appreciate the new order of
thought, the first requisite will be to make oneself familiar with
the main features of the grammar. It is not desirable that the
mind should be crowded with details, but the paradigms of the
verbs should be studied and the structure of simple sentences
should be mastered at the outset.

When once these simple forms are understood the mind
should be exercised as rapidly as possible in receiving them by
eye and ear, and reproducing them both in speech and in
writing. This will involve the memorising of a considerable
number of detached sentences, but it will be found advantageous
to confine oneself for some weeks to a narrow range of idiom.
Until the mind accustoms itself to the simple forms, a variety of
idioms is liable to prove embarrassing.

After a little practice of this sort the colloquial portions of
the primary school readers should be taken up. This will
involve the study of the character, both the kana in its two
forms, the katakana and the hirakana^ and the Chinese
ideographs. There must be daily practice in writing, at least
until the kana is mastered and the analysis of the Chinese
characters is well understood.

It goes without saying that in constant association with
this reading and writing there must be conversations with the
teacher. The teacher should be one who knows no English —
certainly after the first few weeks. Care should be taken to
secure one who speaks distinctly and who will be patient and
persistent in correcting the mistakes of the pupil and who can
be depended on to fill out all broken sentences. He should be,
if possible, a mau of resources, who can make conversation.
The help of some missionary friend of experience .will be needed
in the selection and coaching of the teacher, for suitable teachers
are rare, and the best will need to be brought into sympathy
with the purpose underlying whatever system of instruction
may be chosen.

In connection with the reading of stories certain select
passages sholild be memorised, and the teacher should drill his
pupil until they can be recited naturally and with appreciation
both of the sense and of the rhythm of the language.

358 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

A certain amount of time each day might wisely be devoted
to listening to easy stories read aloud by the teacher. At first
only a few minutes at a time would be sufficient, the danger
being that the attention might flag and a habit of listlessness be
formed ; but as the mind adjusts itself to the idiom, and the
vocabulary at the student's command increases, the time might
well be lengthened indefinitely.

At the close of the first eighteen months the book language
should be undertaken.

There should be some time each day, perhaps one-sixth of
the time spent in formal study, given to composition in the
colloquial. In the third year composition in the written
language might alternate with that in the colloquial.

Just so soon as the student acquires the power of reasonably
prolonged attention to reading aloud, he should make it a
practice to attend preaching services and lectures, at least once
a week at the beginning, and twice a week as soon as he finds
himself able to follow the general current of thought of the
preacher, even though his vocabulary may be too scanty to
enable him to take in the entire sermon or lecture. Too much
stress cannot be laid on this discipline for the ear, nor can one
be too strict in guarding against a habit of inattention.

Opportunities should also be sought for short and informal
addresses. By the end of the first eighteen months, certainly,
and within a year if possible, a beginning should be made in
such simple extemporaneous speaking.

Whenever possible the teacher's criticisms of these addresses
should be sought and carefully weighed. Such addresses should
always be short and carefully thought out, though not necessarily
memorised. It is only in this way that unfortunate habits can
be avoided, and it is far easier to forestall such habits than it is
to cure them. Nothing discourages a teacher more than a long
speech crowded with mistakes.

There can be no satisfactory progress in learning the
Japanese, or any other language for that matter, without a good
deal of persistent work on the part of the memory. This does
not mean that the student must store his mind with a stock of
sentences which he is to repeat like a parrot. Certain idioms
must, of course, be learned more or less mechanically ; but the
main advantage from memorising comes from the discipline
which forces the mind to adjust itself to the unaccustomed
movement of thought. If judiciously practiced memorising

1906.] The Study of the Japanese Language. 359

helps the mind to cast its own thought in Japanese moulds.
Probably there is no other way in which this adjustment of the
mind can be effectively secured.

Some of the most successful students and most effective
speakers have gained their success and efficiency by the long
continued and faithful memorising of sentences. This is a
difficult path for any one to travel, but for some the difficulties
are very serious and the tedium almost unendurable. The
question arises whether, without attempting to open a royal
road, the tedium cannot be in some measure relieved, and it is
thought that substantial relief can be found in memorising
connected paragraphs rather than detached sentences.

There is another advantage in committing to memory
connected passages ; the student learns earlier and more
thoroughly the essentials of connected discourse and will be far
less likely to fall into the habit of speaking in a fragmentary
way, — a habit which some, otherwise good speakers, never can
throw off. The rhythm and swing of the language is by such
memorising more easily caught.

As soon as possible after the book language is taken up,
the student should be urged to read the newspaper. The
telegrams should be attacked first, then the general news items,
editorials, etc. Great help both in conversation and in more
formal speaking will come from thus early familiarising oneself
with the current thought of the day.

Later, magazines should be read, but care should be taken
not to weary oneself by attempting to read difficult matter at
first. There is a great difference between writers as regards
simplicity of style and the range of characters employed. A
little experimenting will settle the question for each student.

Some one, speaking of typewriting, has said that the
best way to learn to write fast is to write slowly. It is not
less true that the best way for the student of Japanese to
learn to read difficult matter is to read a great deal of simple
matter.

It will often be found that essays, which from a Japanese
point of view are difficult, w-ill be relatively easy for the foreign
student, because the difficulty to the Japanese arises from the
thought rather than its dress, while with the foreigner the
reverse ma,y be true.

One very great difficulty to those whose business it is to
be in large degree the herald of Western thought is that of

360 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

clothing that thought in Japanese forms. Some of the most
experienced and successful speakers, men who in ordinary' inter-
course experience no difficulty, confess to great embarrassment
here. Some content themselves with a rude and inadequate
expression, but the loss is most serious. Can it be avoided ?
Perhaps not altogether, but great relief can be found in the
practice of rendering one's own English essays, and sometimes
those of others, into Japanese.

Such translation should receive careful attention during
the second and third years, but especially in the third, for then
it is less likely to react unfavorably upon one's hold upon the
Japanese idiom.

In reading Japanese it should be the aim of the student
to acquire the habit of reading without translating. This habit
can be acquired and no one should rest satisfied without it.
This is one of the important reasons why the student should
confine his reading for a considerable period to books written
in a simple style. The more of such reading the better, until
the mind takes in the thought in its Japanese form. Still, for
an occasional exercise, translation from Japanese into English
is of great value and should have its place during the entire
three years which the course covers. In such translations too
much pains cannot be taken to secure, not necessarily a literal
rendering, but an accurate transfer of the thought. A closely
literal version is rarely consistent with the preservation of the
spirit of the original. Whatever of interest to the philologist
there may be in a reproduction in his own tongue of the forms
of a new language, to one who wishes to use that language in
oral discourse, the chief interest lies in reproducing the spirit,
as a test of his own appreciation of it and his ability to mould
his own utterances into harmony with it.

Too great stress cannot be laid on pronunciation and what
Mr. Chamberlain terms "the language tune." Here, of course,
dependence must be placed chiefly on the teacher, but in
order to keep up his interest the student must show his own
interest and an unflagging purpose to bring his utterance into
harmony with his teacher's. The help of a foreign friend
must also be sought. A foreigner will rarely be a good model,
but he may be a useful critic, even when his own speech
is faulty.

While a certain amount of effort may wisely be made to
analyse the strange forms of speech which are met with in books

4

1906.] The Study of the Japanese Language. 36 1

or in oral speech, it must not be forgotten that the perplexity
they create is generally due to the attitude of mind which the
new language represents, and that as the mind of the student
becomes familiar with that attitude the idioms will seem simple
and natural. On the other hand some will always defy analy-
sis and must be taken simply on trust. These may for a w^hile
present no very distinct thought to the mind, but they will in
due time fall into their right relations. None of these idioms
should be allowed to cause worry. An industrious student who
reads and listens carefully, and who reproduces in speech and
in writing the forms he has mastered, has a secure future and
can afford to wait till these linguistic guerillas come in and
surrender.

Every student should have two books on hand all of the
time : one which he reads slowly with a view to a complete
mastery, so far as may be, of its vocabulary and gramniatical
forms ; the other which he reads rapidly with the purpose of
catching the current of thought and of training his mind to
follow that current. If the first book be read conscientiously
there need be no fear of forming a slovenly habit. The two
methods will react upon each other, and the mind will gradually
become able to combine rapid reading with an accurate appre-
hension of the thought.

During the last half of the first year, and thereafter, the
student should be encouraged to make occasional trips into the
country. Places should be chosen removed from the paths
ordinarily travelled by foreigners, where a purely Japanese
atmosphere can be secured. Two or three weeks at a time
should be spent, at first, in company with the teacher, or some
other Japanese who knows no European language. These
weeks should be given to real study, though not necessarily to
the study of books.

Where circumstances admit of it the first examination
should be held at the close of the second month, or earlier ; the
second at the end of the sixth ^nonth ; the third at the end of
the first year ; the fourth and fifth at the end of the second and
third years respectively.

While there may be danger in carrying the process of ex-
amination too far, and while the system should not be made too
rigid, one of the advantages of a system of examinations is that
it protects the student. The temptation to scrimp preparation,
for the sake of what may appear a present and pressing duty,

362 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

has been the cause of many disappointments and some sad
failures. Hence it.may be wise to see, not merely that a certain
ability to read is acquired, but that at least the books named in
the course, or suitable substitutes, are actually read. Whatever
may be true of exceptional cases, the average student needs the
support of an inexorable rule.

Supplementary courses should be arranged from time to
time, but they will naturally vary so much with the needs and
tastes of individuals, and also with the changing thought of suc-
cessive years, that it is hardly possible to provide them in
advance.

After finishing the prescribed course students should still
be urged to devote a certain time each day to careful reading
in the line of some special subject in which they may be inter-
ested. Such studies will react most happily upon the regular
work of those who engage in them.

While constant practice in writing should, therefore, be
strongly urged, large discretion may well be left with the
student as to the degree of efficiency to be attained. It is,
however, of the utmost importance that there should be
practice in writing the Chinese character until the analysis of
the characters becomes fairly prompt and sure.

It would be well for students to exercise great care to
prevent undue social relations with English-speaking Japanese
during their years of study. Whether preventable or not, close
relations with English-speaking Japanese are a great hindrance
to acquiring the language.

In sending out these recommendations the compiler is
obliged to confess that it looks toward a standard higher, much
higher, than he has himself attained. Nevertheless, he believes
that it is attainable by those now coming on the field, and he
ventures to express the hope that those who stand as counsellors
to students will give them full support and encouragement ;
that they will do what they can to remove obstacles from
their way, and especially that they will use their influence
to free them from responsibilities which would limit their
time for study. One must have some variety in life, and a
certain amount of missionary work may perhaps be done
with profit ; but such work ought not to exceed an average of
two hours a day. All beyond that, allowing for exceptional
cases, is a draft on the future for which a heavy discount
must be paid.

1906. J Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 363

Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew.

VII. On Manners.
My Dear Henry:

YOU ask me tlie exact meaning of the character )j|. You
have asked a hard question which I fear I can scarcely
answer in a few words. It has been defined "pro-
priety," ''decorum," "etiquette," "politeness." It is all
this and a good deal more. In the Chinese mind it seems to
include what we term good manners, and also covers the ground
indicated by the word "form," as it is used in such an
expression as "correct form." It also appears to mean the
right and conventional thing in social intercourse. As to its
ceremonial and religious uses they are more than I can begin
to define in a letter.

Your question led me to wonder whether you had at all
realized the importance the Chinese attached to jjg in its social
aspect ? I know that you were not educated at the famous
school which added at the foot of its prospectus, "Manners
taught, twopence extra," but at the same time I have thought
you would not lose anything by giving a little more attention
to this part of your education more in the way of a post-graduate
course than anything else. In one of your letters you appeared
to me to lay rather undue emphasis on the fact that your teacher
laboured to turn you out "a cultured pupil." And you added,
"He usually taught us to write 'cultured^ with a capital C"
This, of course, was highly commendable, but it is as well to
bear in mind that it is possible to be '' cultured," and yet to retain
a certain measure of boorishness. Do not misunderstand me.
I do not wish to infer that there is any trace of it in yon, I
am merely laying down a general principle with which I feel
confident you will cordially agree. But I have numbered
among my acquaintances some who appeared to fancy that their
superior culture largely absolved them from attention to many
of the amenities of social inteicourse, especially when dealing
with those in a lower social station. Their fathers, after paying
for their education, could say with Aaron, ' ' I cast the gold
into the fire and there came out this calf." This is a pity and
a disappointment. The fly in the pot of ointment spoils all.

You will do well to bear in mind that the study of jjg is
part of the education of a Chinese scholar. How to bear himself

364 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

in his intercourse with others is to him a most important
matter, and in this we may well learn of him. It is a common
but erroneous notion in many minds that anything in the
way of politeness stamps a man as effeminate, as "soft," while
on the other hand a brusque, ofF-hand manner is a sure index
of manliness and independence of character. In some cases
it appears to arise from a sub-conscious feeling of superiority,
which usually lacks foundation. And yet to set at nought
conventionalities is not necessarily a mark of sense or of decision
of character. And I suppose that if we had our choice we
should prefer to live with a man who had some manners than
with a boor.

The kindly courtesies of life help to enrich it, and make
intercourse with our fellow-men a pleasure and a source of
enjoyment. "Be courteous" is a scriptural command, and its
observance not only tends to remove friction in daily life, but
in the case of the Christian, helps to commend the doctrine he
professes, and which by its observance he adorns. Abraham
bowing down before the sons of Heth when he bought the cave
of Macpelah probably seems a ludicrous figure to a broker in
the * pit ' at Chicago, but we could not afford to lose the record
of the picturesque transaction, and perhaps most of us would
prefer to deal with Abraham than with a twentieth-century
exponent of frenzied finance. This does not mean of course
that our backs should be always forming a parabolic curve, nor
that we should for ever be in the attitude of giving a 'back,'
like boys playing at leap-frog. The Japanese bend is artistic,
but it does not sit well on the occidental. Paul, in his defence,
might have said, "Festus, I am not mad," but his innate
courtesy and sense of the fitness of things led him to reply, "I
am not mad, most noble Festus." And we shall not go very
far wrong if we take him for our example.

But my object was not so much to indulge in these general-
ities, with which you are perfectly familiar, as to say that you
will do well to familiarize yourself with Chinese etiquette.
Your teacher will be able to give you a good deal of informa-
tion on the subject. Some of the things he mentions may seem
grotesque to you — never mind, try and rid your mind of the
insular prejudice that supposes everything outside of the British
Isles is bizarre. 'Arry and 'Arriet usually laugh at anything
that is not practised in their court, but you need not imitate
their example. Some years ago a young man engaged a

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 365

teacher, or more accurately, had one engaged for him. One
of the first things he noticed was that his teacher had long nails,
and the second thing he noticed was that these nails were not
clean. Feeling that these things ought not so to be, he pro-
ceeded to turn up the passage in the book of Daniel which
speaks of Nebuchadnezzar's nails growing like birds' claws.
Having found it, he got the teacher to find it in his Bible, and
pointed first to the teacher's nails and then to the verses which
referred to the insane monarch. Needless to say the teacher
saw the point, and saw further that his scholar was not a
gentleman, and treated him accordingly. Do not laugh at your
teacher. Much of his talk about the ' superior man ' with his
airs and graces, and his knowledge of which way the wind
blows, may seem to you like exalted nonsense, but with your
rare powers of discernment you will no doubt be able to separate
the chaff from the wheat and conserve what is worth conserving.
In any case it is real to your teacher, and if you have some-
thing better to tell him, you will not predispose him in its
favour by holding either him or his views up to ridicule. And
he may have many things to teach you. There are more things
in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, and
he may perhaps know some of them. Among other things he
may teach you how to receive a Chinese visitor. Where to ask
him to sit, what to say to him, will not come to you by
intuition. You will need to have a stock of small-change
conversation on hand before you give expression to your more
profound and philosophical reflections. All men are not
accustomed to move in your own exalted realms of thought. If
you learn how to receive your guest, how to put him at his
ease, and make him feel that you know at least the elements
of good behaviour, you will have accomplished a great deal.
We do not usually feel inclined to take a very absorbing interest
in a person's talk if he impresses us with the fact that he has
no manners worth speaking of. Great men like, say, Carlyle,
can afford to do a good many things that would not be tolerated
in an ordinary person, but tli^ fact that you have read the
French Revolution and Sartor Resartus does not make you a
second edition of that celebrated man. Your visitor judges you
from the standpoint of jjil, and is apt to form his opinion of you
and of your doctrine according as you conform to it.

Learu, too, how to offer him tea, and how to receive a cup
of that refreshing beverage when it is offered to you. This

366 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

may seem childish, but it will serve to show bim that one part
at least of your education has not been neglected. And when
he goes, see that you learn from some one and from observation
how to bid him adieu. Add further to your knowledge by
learning yourself how to say good-bye when you are the
visitor, and do not offend your host by turning your back to
him as you go out of the door. In addition you might find out
when to raise those gold-rimmed eyeglasses in which you take
such prid.e. One old Chinese preacher of my acquaintance
always used to raise his spectacles to his congregation before he
began the service. This was an act of politeness which cost
him but little, but was of great value in predisposing the
members of his audience to give him a respectful hearing. Our
attitude in some of these minor matters — which have been aptly
termed minor moralities — often determines the attitude of others
toward us and our message. If you stand before a pier glass
and strike a pugilistic attitude, you will find that the figure in
the glass will do the same. So in life. If you show a contempt
for the conventionalities of society, members of that society will
show a certain measure of contempt for you. In any case
nothing can be lost, but a good deal may be gained, by showing
that you possess an idea of the fitness and seemliness of things.
To have the reputation of being a person who is M )ji| will not
help you, nor the cause you espouse. On the other hand,
a reputation for courtesy will go far to secure you the respect
of others, which is often the first step towards obtaining their
confidence and affection. The proverb, A 11 ^ I| (tJc fjfl /J, ''A
man who has not a smiling face should not open a shop," shows
a fairly good knowledge of human nature. And without your
face wearing a perennial grin you may, by a cheerful and win-
some manner, do great good. In any case you will not be called
15, but help to illustrate that definition of a Christian which
makes him one of God's gentlemen. Manners, according to
the old saying, maketh man, and without committing oneself
absolutely to this proposition it is safe to say that the absence
of this adornment constitutes a distinct lack. ' Strength and
beauty ' were in the old sanctuary ; the rugged stones were
covered with fragrant cedar and adorned with .all manner of
precious stones. And in the New Economy we are exhorted
to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

There is, as you may have found, a great danger of letting
oneself get out of repair in this land. You no doubt remember

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 367

how particular you were, almost fussily so, about your collar and
tie at home, how keen you were to have your boots blacked to
reflecting point, and what care you always took to have your
coat well brushed. And your manners at table were simply
beyond reproach. Your friend Blank, who passed through here
a few days ago, showed me one of your recent photos, and I
must say there were certain points about it that were calculated
to arrest the eye, in addition to its inherent charm. While the
general effect was striking, certain details in the dress appeared
to indicate that your ideals were not quite what they used to be.
Far be it from me to say there was anything that could be
called slovenly about you, but there seemed a tendency to
looseness and flabbiness that indicated you were growing slack
in some things. What has been called in pidgin English the
" glorious maskee principle," and which is expressed in Chinese
by ^ ;fi $, is easily adopted and soon works havoc both with
appearance and practice. The fact that you are away in the
interior should not affect your feelings of self-respect, nor suffer
you to let yourself go. Brace yourself up and fight the
temptation to be easy-going as you would fight the devil. So
demean yourself that the Chinese may .feel that this foreign
missionary, notwithstanding his hair and moustache being
twenty-four carat fine, is not quite such a barbarian as he looks.
Do not delude your soul with the notion that a knowledge of
how to deport yourself correctly according to Chinese ideas is
beneath your notice, and belongs to an inferior order of beings.
Nay, more ; learn all you can on the subject from everybody
round you and from any books on which you can lay hands.
The late Rev. A. G. Jones, of the English Baptist Mission,
published, some years ago, a small pamphlet calling attention
to some of these things, but I do not know whether it is still
in print.

You have said more than once that you did not think the
people of ^ ."^ f^ paid much attention to manners. That may
or may not be the case. They may, however, have an idea that
you do not appreciate them 3^ofirself, and so do not burden you
with them. And then of course places differ and standards
differ. It has been said that you need not know anything of
geography to know when you cross the border between England
and Scotland. It is stated that south of Carlisle ticket collec-
tors on the railway say, ''Tickets, please," whereas north of
that town they simply say "Tickets." This may be, and

368 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

probably is nothing more than the ignorant sa\ ing of some poor
benighted Southron, but it illustrates my point. As you well
know the word ' polite ' gives a clue to the fact that intercourse
between people in cities puts a polish on men and furthers
politeness in common things. But I should be far from recom-
mending you to use the speech and manners of Eelgravia in a
brickfield or among bargees. Kach class of society has its
own code of etiquette, and your power of adaptation will no
doubt enable you to suit your manners to your company.
Nature has provided us a backbone in sections to teach us that
we should not be too stiff and rigid in our intercourse one with
another. A person who acts as though his spinal column
were made in one piece is not usually much sought after.

If vou can acquire the phraseology current among different
classes of people it will help you. The high-sounding title of
•a M ^^^^ bestowed on every elderly male in one district that I
was familiar with. Hence to address an old man as :^ 01 "f in
such a district would not help to promote too cordial a feeling.
If, for example, a friend calls and brings with him some one
with whom you are not familiar, do not ask your friend Jg fg
A :S' S SB A- The^ A will not feel flattered, nor listen with
bated breath to anything you may have to say afterwards. But
if you say 5g -^ fiL J; Hy or something of the kind, you will
have done a little towards winning him. iVlways bear in mind
that you pose as a teacher, and hence should set an example
and excel in all good things. You stand as the representative of
a 5g g?, and it is important that you give people the impression
that it contains at least the elements of common courtesy,
whatever it may hold of more abstruse things.

You will find it a good th'^ig to take notice of people. If
you observe you will see that the Chinese usually have some-
thing in the way of salutation when they meet each other, or
pass each other on the road. It may be only a query as to
where the other party is going, or a reference to something he
is carrying or doing, but it serves as an expression of kindly
feeling and a recognition of another's interests. I have known
many missionaries lose caste by coming into a room to see a
fellow-missionary who has had perhaps a Chinese guest or teacher
present. The visitor utterly ignored their presence and confined
his flow of silvery eloquence to his foreign confrere. An
enquiry as to the name of the other party, or a nod, or some
thing that indicates interest, would have cost nothing and

1906.] Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 369

taken little time, bnt it would have secured the esteem, or at
least the approval, of those in question. This does not mean,
of course, that your head should be like a catkin waving to and
fro in every breeze. People that you are dealing with all day
and every day neither give nor expect formal, set forms of polite-
ness from morning to night, but at the same time our general
bearing, even in these cases, counts for a good deal. Jacob,
who with all his weaknesses knew men fairly well, advised his
sons to take a little honey with them when they went down
into Egypt. This advice still holds good. "Daub yourself
with honey, and you will never want for flies,*' is a proverb that
is susceptible of more than one interpretation. Many men of
comparatively slender abilities have done good work and been
successful because they have given attention to some of these
things The late Hudson Taylor was very particular in his
treatment of the Chinese. He was the soul of politeness. It
did not matter whether a man was a coolie or a scholar ; he had
a most winning way in dealing with him. He was never in a
hurry, but gave each one the feeling that for the time being he
was the one in whom he was interested. The result was that
the Chinese who had had anyihing to do with him never forgot
him, but always referred to him afterwards in terms of great
admiration and respect. And his bearing often enabled him to
gain his point when any other attitude would have ensured his
losing it. At a conference held some years ago so many
Chinese Christians wanted to see him and talk with him that
the door of his room had to be guarded to ensure any rest or
quiet. I wonder whether you or I could command such an
experience ? And in his case his courtesy arose from his love
and modesty. He had scant toleration for anything hollow,
anything ^ — ; mere conventionality had little charm for him as
an empty form. But he esteemed others better than himself, and
his treatment of them was but the outward expression of his
attitude of mind and heart toward them. And further, like the
apostle, he was all things to all men, if by any means he might
save some. Regarded from this foint of view, the details of com-
mon intercourse become invested with considerable importance.
Our Lord's injunction to salute no man by the way was no
doubt aimed at waste of time over mere social functions. It is
said that the Arab salutation comprises enquiries after relatives
to the fourth and fifth degree. This, in the nature of the case,
takes a good deal of time and demands a considerable amount of

370 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

genealogical knowledge. You would need to climb pretty high
up the Chinese genealogical tree to be able to do it correctly.
And perhaps it is not worth doing. I suppose that the principle
our Lord lays down is not intended to encourage disregard of
the social order, but rather to encourage the putting of first
things first, leaving other things to their proper time and place.

You will have to deal with all sorts and conditions of men.
To be all things to all men is not very easy, and needs tact and
knowledge. The four classes into which Chinese society is
usually divided, viz., scholars, agriculturalists, workmen and
merchants, cover a good deal of ground and represent a good
many interests. Each class has its own phraseology, its own
prejudices, its own special line. And if you know even the
elements of the things in which each class is specially interested,
and are able to enter into them, you will have taken the first
step toward gaining them. A shopkeeper, for example, will think
none the worse of you for asking if his trade is flourishing, a
workman will appreciate a compliment paid to his handiwork,
and a farmer will be pleased if you show an interest in the state
of his crops. The pride and contempt of the scholar may begin
to dissolve if he finds that you can use a polite and well-turned
phrase. And you may at some time or other be brought into
contact with ofiEicials.

You may see them either in the ordinary course of social
intercourse or in connection with some business, but in either
case do your very best to render to them that respect due
to their office. If you have a favour to ask you will be more
likely to have it granted if your manners are courteous than
if they are not. Of course this does not mean that you need to
be posted in all official etiquette, but that your bearing and
speech are such as becomes your position and character. Be
not as the knights of old who "carved their meals in gloves of
steel and drank the red wine through the helmet barred."
Anything in the way of bluster, or rudeness, should be studi-
ously avoided ; nothing is gained by it, while it lays you open
to insult and public contempt. And may I, in passing, urge
upon you to cultivate a spirit of sympathy for Chinese officials ?
They have to fill a difficult position. Many of them have
waited for years to secure office, and having secured it do not find
it easy to fill. Any affair mismanaged exposes them to the risk
of being cashiered. Lower officials have to keep in with higher
ones, the :)^ ^^ pg >J> ,@ >J> gf pg Jg. If you think they are

1906.J Letters from an Old Missionary to His Nephew. 371

not immaculate, there is the more need to follow apostolic
precept to pray for them. Whatever their faults or excellencies,
we are indebted to them for a good deal of the quietness we
enjoy, and it is under their rule that our work is done. And it
is an indication of very bad taste and breeding to find fault
with such things as your host provides. We are the § and
the local official is the host. And it is quite in the power of a
comparatively small official to make things very unpleasant for
you. So that on the lowest ground of policy, it pays to be
civil and respectful to the powers that be. In making any
representation to them therefore, do it in a friendly, kindly
spirit, and thus make them feel that in your case nothing but
good can come from intercourse with you.

You have come to China at a time when the old order is
changing, giving place to the new. Great changes are in
progress, and no man can say where they will lead. And it is
difficult to prophesy whether the new is to be much better than
the old. The only thing that will lead to any permanent good
is a moral and spiritual change. In the meantime the transition
period is noticeable for a distinct falling off in the manners of
new China. Many young men have got out of touch with the
old order and regard it with contempt as the source of their
country's weakness. And the tendency is to be too sweeping
in their judgment and to ignore many points which are in it
of permanent value. In the desire to be thought progressive
and enlightened, conventionalities are often disregarded or dis-
pensed with, and the result is a something that is neither eastern
nor western, a sort of hybrid between the two. Like the man
from whom the unclean spirit was cast, the mind is empty,
swept and garnished, and ready for the occupancy of something
seven-fold worse than anything that has been cast out.

When you start your school I trust that you will include
* manners ' in your curriculum. Many educationists deplore
the fact that a fairly large proportion of those who pass through
their schools are not overburdened with either foreign or
Chinese )ji|. Not long ago a deputation waited upon a well-known
missionary lady and asked her to draw up a small book in
Chinese dealing with the subject. She did so, and harked back
to Chinese standards of behaviour as being the most suitable.
You might do worse than follow her example. Children
who spend the most formative period of their life away from
their fellow-countrymen are, in the nature of the case, greatly

372 The Chinese Recorder. [J^i^y?

handicapped. Like the coffin of Mahomet they are neither in
heaven nor in earth, but occupy a sort of intermediate position.
Your school will probably be a day-school and your scholars
will be better off in many ways than if they attended boarding-
school. But they will be none the worse for being taught how
to behave themselves according to the standard of their own
country, while their learning will in consequence probably be of
greater value to them in the time to come.

But I must stop, or you will say that I have violated one of
the first canons of good taste by keeping you too long.

Your Affectionate Uncle.

The Missionary's Book-Bill.

BY REV. F. W. BIBLE, A. P. M., HANGCHOW.

NOT long since the Bishop of London took the public into
his confidence by announcing the sum of his annual
book-bill which, as I read it, was about ;£2>^. The
announcement created not a little interest, and in the columns
of the British Weekly a representative portion of the British
reading public responded to the Bishop's confidence by a frank
discussion of his book-bill, of their own, and of book-bills in
general. It was pointed out that £2>^ per annum, spent judi-
ciously, would soon give a man a fair working library, but
much surprise was expressed that the present bishop of London
should spend such a small proportion of his income for books.
But the most significant fact revealed in the letters was that
so many men of small income — ministers, professional men
in small towns, men in subordinate business positions were
spending for books sums of money which relative to their
total incomes were quite large. The writers seemed to be unan-
imous in placing books among the necessities of life rather
than in the list of luxuries.

An article in a recent issue of the Recorder which called
attention to some of the more important of the newer books for
Biblical study, recalled this discussion and raised the question
of the missionary's Book-bill; should he have one? Should
some specified sum for books have a place in the missionary's
annual bill? Or, perhaps, to keep nearer the facts, should

1906.] The Missionary's Book-Bill. 37}

a book-bill be a part of the missionary's annual deficit? So
long as we say merely that it is desirable for the missionary to
add some good books to his library each year there is likely to
be little difference of opinion. But if the book-bill must take
its place in that large list of things which we would like to have
— the non-essentials — it is likely to come out at the end of the
year pretty badly mutilated or perhaps to disappear. So for
most of us the buying of books will become a habit only when
we are convinced that books and reading are properly among
the necessities if we are to reach our highest efficiency as
missionaries.

A part of the argument which enforces this view is old and
familiar, applicable to us because we are men as well as mission-
aries. It is not that culture and intellectual power alone can
fit us for our work, but that we can do our work l)etter, even
that work which is most truly spiritual, in proportion as we
develop the whole life with which we are endowed. So much
might be said to any man. But the missionary's need of books
is emphasized by the conditions peculiar to his work. It is a
regrettable fact that most men have a large element of intellectual
laziness in their make-up, that most of us require an external
stimulus if we are to do our best work. Many of those stimuli
on which we depended in the home lands are almost immediate-
ly removed when we come to China. Most new missionaries
are fresh from the schools, where there has been a demand for
regular mental work, a more or less constant use of books, the
presentation of new thought and problems and the daily contact
with men of more than ax'erage power and of varied interests.

From such environment he is transported into a civilization
to which he is a stranger, to live in a small English-speaking
community made up in most cases of men engaged in his kind
of work, thinking along his line. He begins the study of a lan-
guage whose difficulties do not need to be enlarged upon, but
which, if the authorities are to be trusted, calls primarily for
the exercise of memory and only in slight degree for the use of
the reasoning powers. Nor iocs the language incite mental
growth by opening up a new literature. The missionary's
contact with fellow-workers is likely to be in line with his
work, his converse "talking shop." For several years he has
little direct touch wdth the great problem of life, few respon-
sibilites or external demands. Is there not serious danger that
this period will mark the beginning of his intellectual arrest ?

374 The Chinese Recorder. [My^

When he begins active work the conditions which encourage
this lack of growth are emphasized. The evangelistic worker
preaches to congregations which while worthy of the best which
hard study could produce, cannot help the preacher by demanding
this best, as a congregation at home helps. So his preaching
and thinking may become slovenly. His fund of Biblical knowl-
edge is in advance of the demands made upon him. His study
of the Word may easily become a matter of form. The educa-
tional work probably compels a man to hold on to his stock of
knowledge, but it scarcely compels him to keep pace with
the progress of the West.

As a result the missionary may fail to reach that growth
and breadth which his natural powers make possible. If so the
loss to himself is great, but the loss to his cause is inestimable.
Surely the missionary enterprise needs broad men. Still more it
needs growing men. Could a man who has suffered intellectual
arrest do his work as he ought ? Or put the question in a more
vital form. The Chinese church is growing, the Chinese
pastors, the Chinese people. How long can a man who has
stopped lead people who are moving ? Grant that his sum of
knowledge is greater than theirs : fossilized knowledge can
never give leadership.

It is true of course that the missionary body has by no
means fallen into such a serious condition. But there might be a
serious question as to whether we are growing and broadening
through the use of books as we might and ought. For books
must take the place of many helps available in the home land.
Books must help to make and keep us fit for our work.
Inevitably great movements of thought will reach China from
the West. Must we not be familiar with them, ready to repel
such as the materialistic philosophy of Spencer or Haeckel, or to
carefully consider such as the results of devout and scholarly
study of the Bible ?

How much should the missionary spend for books ? One
mission in another country of Asia has answered the question
easily, $50 gold. Perhaps that is out of reach for most of
us. Yet it is not too much. For the missionary should buy in
three lines : —

(a). Periodical literature that will keep him in touch with
the life of his day.

(d). Books for culture. It does not seem that a man should
lose his love for great literature when be becomes a missionary.

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 375

(c). Books for Biblical study. Not such books in a narrow
sense or including only hand-books or commentaries but books
in which are found the woild's moral and religious thinking.
And a part of what we want to get from books will come to us,
as we weigh books against each other in order to use most wisely
the little sum of money at our command. And perhaps that is
all we will get unless we learn to read.

The Bible and Missions.

BY BISHOP JAMES W. BASHFORD, D. D.
INTRODUCTION.

ANY fresh study of the Bible with reference to Missions
is attended with inextricable confusion unless we first
recognize the narrower aspects of that Book. In the
divine promise to Abraham, we read these strange words :
*'In blessing, I will bless lAee^ and in multiplying, I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand
which is upon the seashore ; and //iy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemies ; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.^^ The first half of this passage contains the
promise of a personal blessing to Abraham and his seed, which
extends even to the driving out of the enemies of Abraham's
descendants. On the other side, the race blessing is universal
in its terms ; and the same Hebrew word for blessing is used to
indicate that the nations of the earth shall receive a blessing,
not only equal in quantity, but identical in quality with that
promised to the chosen people. *'And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed. ' '

The greatness of Frederick Robertson's sermons is due
in part to the fact that he always strove to recognize the partial
truth which inheres in every long lived error and to put that
partial truth in right relatioifs to its complementary truth.
Let us, therefore, strive to do full justice to that deep
conviction of the vast majority of Christians that one's first
duty is to himself ; his second to his home ; that his third
duty is to his home church ; that his fourth duty is to his
native land ; and that only after these duties have been fairly
met is he at liberty to devote time or means to the evangeliza-

376 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

tion of the world. We shall find that if the conviction of
one's duty to himself, his family, his church, and his native
land is taken as the whole truth, it furnishes a distorted
conception of Christianity ; but we shall find that if this
conviction is kept in right relations to one's duty to the world^
it finds ample warrant in nature and in the Bible.

Our Calvinistic friends have shown a disposition in later
years to broaden and soften their doctrine of a divine election.
On the other side, I am sure that the study of evolution in
nature and the broader study of the Bible has led modern
Arminians to recognize a divine election running through
nature and through the Bible. Notice first, therefore, the
narrower or personal aspects of salvation.

I. THE NARROWER OR PERSONAL ASPECTS OF SALVATION.

"I will bless thee.^^ It must be confessed that the first
reading of the Bible reveals God's attempt to call and to save
the chosen people and his passing by of other nations. So
clearly was this the apparent teaching of the Old Testament
that the most devout Jews and those best versed in the Scriptures
became Pharisees or Separatists, using that word in its good
sense. They believed, on the one side, that the Jews should
come out from all other nations and become a peculiar people
of God ; and, on the other side, they believed that God
would exalt them above all the other nations of the earth — not
as a means to an end, but as an end in itself The view
was based on what seemed to the Jews, and indeed to
all men down to modern times, the natural inequalities of
men and races. To the Jews there seemed to be a divine
recognition of this inequality in their providential deliverances
from the Egyptians, in the destruction of the Canaanites for
their sake, and in the restraint of Assyria for a time at least
in order to preserve the Jewish nation. Candid critics of
the Bible recognize that the Pharisees embraced the most
pious and patriotic and many of the ablest Jews, including
Paul before his conversion.

So clearly does the Old Testament teach the doctrine of
particularism in blessings that some of the higher critics have
adopted the erroneous conviction that the God of Israel was
originally a tribal God, and that the Israelites themselves did
not recognize the obligation of other nations to accept their
tribal divinity. These critics cite the teachings of the Old

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 377

Testament in regard to the extermination of the Canaanites,
the prayers of the 109th, 137th, and 140th Psalms for revenge
upon one's enemies, and the prayer of Jeremiah x. 25 for
God's wrath upon the heathen as furnishing undoubted liter-
ary indications of the gradual but imperfect emergence of
the Israelitish religion from the stage of worship of a tribal
God.

In favor of the Pharisee's view, that the tlessings of the
Bible are partial and not universal, is the fact that while
Jesus called Himself the Son of man, nevertheless He devoted
His life to the Jewish race. When aroused by the cry of need
of the outside world, he said: ''I am not sent save to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel." It is still more striking
that Jesus did not call a single apostle from the Gentile world.
Surely there seems to be a divine election running through
the Bible.

In favor of the home view that the Bible fully justifies
our devotion to our own families is the fact that God has
placed us in this world, not as individuals in relations of equal
love and service to all men, but as families, the members of
which stand in peculiar relations of love and service to each
other. There are reciprocal duties and blessings attached to
members of each household which cannot be universal. No
sane Christian advocates a community of wives and children
and homes as the end of Christian brotherhood. Paul goes so
far as to teach : '*If any provideth not for his own, and
especially for his own household, he hath denied the faith
and is worse than an unbeliever." Thus we see that the
doctrine of personal blessings runs through the New Testa-
ment as well as through the Old: '*In blessing I will bless
thee. ' '

Before missionaries condemn their brothers and sisters at
home for restricting their gifts and services to their families,
their home churches, and their native land, let us see whether
they have found complete altruism practicable. Missionaries
have come to China for the specific purpose of Christianizing
the Chinese. But they do not permit their zeal for the salva-
tion of the children of China to lead them to put their chil-
dren side by side with the Chinese children in the school room
and on the streets. Nor are they guilty of pride in their
action. Carrying the doctrine of the equality of all men in
the sight of God to the extent of putting their children side

378 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

by side with the Chinese during the first fifteen years of
their lives would lead, not to the salvation of the Chinese,
but to the corruption of their own. Nor do the majority of
missionaries live in Chinese houses, wear the Chinese dress,
or live on Chinese food, because they think they can render
the Chinese a higher service than that. Hence, however
altruistic the missionaries are, they are forced to claim for
their children, and for themselves in part, special privileges
which cannot at present be enjoyed by all in China. '*In
blessing I will bless thee."

A still more striking illustration is found of our Pharisaism,
still possibly in its good sense, in our denominational pride and
loyalty. Each of us confidently claims for his church the
promise, *' In blessing I will bless thee," as if that promise
w^ere made by a Methodist God to a Methodist preacher, or
by an American Board God to the Congregational Church.
Certainly the Roman Catholic Church holds to the divine
authority of that hierarchy, and the Episcopal Church holds to
apostolical succession, and the rest of us regard our churches
as ends in themselves, destined to spread over the globe and
to exist until the millennium.

Summing up the thought under this division we find in
many passages in the Bible personal blessings promised to
Abraham and to the Jewish nation which are limited to the
chosen people ; the ablest and most devout Jews were led of
their study of the Old Testament into Pharisaism. Even
Jesus said he was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house
ot Israel ; and he did not choose a single apostle from the
Gentile world. All Christians, including missionaries, seek
blessings for their own children which they do not strive with
equal time and effort to secure for every other child on earth.
All missionaries labor for the upbuilding of their own churches
and for the advancement of the particular work committed to
them in the Mission as they do not labor for the advancement
of other churches or of other forms of service in their own
church. In a word, human nature is finite and cannot strive
with equal energy for universal ends. Surely, therefore, a
study of the limitations of human nature and of the Bible must
force upon us the recognition of a divine election in the bestowal
of special blessings upon individuals and families and races
as the teaching of the Bible and the practice of the saintliest
lives.

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 379

II. TRANSITION FROM THE PARTICULAR TO THE UNIVERSAL
ASPECTS OF THE BIBLE.

What is the truth which underlies the conflict between
the advocates of the particular and the universal aspects of
salvation ?

The first fact — a fact which ought to fill each soul with
eternal hope — is that not only each church and each nation and
each family is precious in God's sight, but that each human being
is an end in himself, subject only to God ; not merely a means
to be used or sacrificed in the interests of the kingdom. You
are not a mere servant, whom God has put into this world for
the work He can get out of you. You are a child of the King.
Your first and supreme duty is to live worthy of your high
vocation, to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, to
walk this earth as a son of the most high God. The Parable of
the Great Supper precedes the Parable of the Vineyard. Christ
calls us to receive before He summons us to give. When Christ
brought life and immortality to light ; when He cried, *' What
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his
own soul, or what shall man give in exchange for his soul ;'*
when he called each one of us his brother, his sister, and
taught us each to call God our Father, man became an end in
himself^ and not a mere means or servant for the establishment
of a divine hierarchy on earth. So eager is God to develop
our personality that He resorts in some measure to the competi-
tive principle in building up the kingdom. Jesus appeals to
personal motives by teaching that there are some who shall be
least and some who shall be great in the kingdom. The New
Testament teaches that he who soweth sparingly shall reap also
sparingly ; and that he who soweth bountifully, shall also reap
bountifully. We are urged to lay up treasure in heaven and
become rich toward God. And the angel of the Apocalypse
warns us: ''Let no man take thy crown.'* We need have
no fear, therefore, of the sacrifice of the individual to the
community in the building up of the kingdom of heaven on
earth. Rather we may truly say with one of the philosophers
of history that individualism was born with Christ, and reborn
at the Reformation.

Again, the divine order of the kingdom is to root itself in
the individual heart, and to spread, at least to the extent of
the ofer of salvation, from the individual to the family, from

380 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

the family to the neighborhood, from the neighborhood to the
nation, and fr©m the nation to the world. Christ closes the
great commission, in which He summoned His followers to
disciple all nations, by the striking statement, " Beginning from
Jerusalem.'' The most imperative duty resting upon the
missionaries in China to-day is to teach each Chinese convert his
divine obligation to his household and to help him bring his
family into the church, and thus make Christianity self-propagat-
ing in the empire. The divine order is "beginning from
Jerusalem." If, therefore, the life of the home churches were
at stake and if we could not save the home churches except by
temporarily giving up our work here and returning to the
contest there, I should recognize the divine order and abandon
the outposts to save the citadel. It is worse than folly, it is
wicked to put the ministers at home and the ministers in foreign
lands in separate classes mentally and to rank the missionary
above the pastor : * ' Foi^ as is his share that goeth down to the
battle^ so shall his share be that tarrieth by the stuff ; they shall
share alike. ' '

But while Jesus makes the individual an end in Himself,
and makes "beginning from Jerusalem" the divine order. He
clearly teaches that the law of love is universal and that the
training of our children and the building up of our home
churches must constantly aim at equal blessings for God's other
children. Christ furnishes the solution of the problem which
confronts the modern church and modern civilization by recog-
nizing God, neighbour, and self as the three everlasting factors in
the moral and spiritual kingdom and in placing the three in
their divine order. He did not deny God, which is atheism ; or
with Confucius, confess ignorance of him, which is agnosticism ;
or with Spencer lose God in the physical universe, which is
materialism. He did not sacrifice the individual to the com-
munity, which is socialism ; or make the public the victim of
personal greed, which is individualism ; or sink both man and
society in God, which is pantheism. Rather he put each man
on an equality with his neighbor and both in perfect obedience
to God, thus providing for a Christian commonwealth or world
family, based on the Fatherhood of God.

There is indeed a divine call and election of individuals
and of nations running through the Bible. But it is an election
to service as well as to enjoyment. It is an election of the
individual to serve the family, and of the family to serve the

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 381

community, and of the community to serve the race, and of the
race to glorify God. Only as both the individual and the
community center in God can our finite resources be reinforced
by the infinite riches of heaven. It is only as man ceases to be
self-centered and becomes God-centered that he is able to do all
things. This is the secret of faith. Here is the key to the
entire problem which confronts us. If God is the means and I
am the end for which the universe exists, then egotism is re-
ligion. If God is the means and my family or my clan is the
end, then aristocracy is true. If God is the means and America
or Germany or Great Britain or China is the end, then patriotism
is religion. Here was the error of the Jews. If God is the
means and the Methodist Episcopal Church or the Roman
Catholic Church is the end for which the universe exists, then
ecclesiasticism is religion. But if God is the Alpha and Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end of creation,
then the individual and the family, and the nations, and the
churches all find their true end and stand together in right
relations only in him. And so Paul sums up the life of the
universe in the profoundest text in the Bible: *'Iu Him all
things consist.'*

There is a striking significance in that strange and
almost pathetic prayer of Christ for the unity of believers.
The repetition and the pathos of the prayer suggest that Christ
regarded it as perhaps the last petition which was likely to be
realized as the condition for the incoming of the kingdom of
heaven upon earth. When the desire for church federation is
beginning to stir the heart of the Christian world, many church
members wonder whether the answer of Christ's prayer for the
unity of believers demands the organic union of all Christians in
a single church. This seems to the casual reader of the Bible
the goal of church federation. Upon the contrary, the fuller
study of Christ's teaching will not make clear the divine
necessity for organic union. It is clear that as earthly armies
demand absolute unity or purpose and singleness of direction as
a condition of victory, so all soWiers of Jesus Christ must have
unity of aim and be under the one great Captain, if we are to
conquer the forces of evil. But it is no more clear that all
Christians must be organized into one single church than that
all soldiers must be placed in the navy, the cavalry, the infantry,
or the artillery. Indeed inside of our churches, however small,
there is an opportunity for a variety of tasks ; some are teachers,

382 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

some preachers, some evangelists. In the same way, in case all
Christians united. in a single church, there would be still diver-
sities of gifts and' diversities of callings. It must be apparent
also to all thoughtful students of the church that the need of
unity is even greater inside of our churches than between them
and some sister church. The lack of appreciation of the home
pastors by missionaries, of the teacher by the preacher, of the
evangelist by the teacher is vastly more harmful to the triumph
of Christ than is the lack of organic unity between the Presby-
terians and the Congregationalists, between the Baptists and the
Methodists. Organic union, therefore, if it comes, is only the
condition for the fulfillment of Christ's prayer. That prayer
demands such surrender of self as leads each to look, not upon
the things of his own, but upon the things of his brother. But
beyond the goal of organic unity, and above the heartiest
sympathy and co-operation upon the part of those who are en-
gaged in different forms of Christian work, is the absolute unity
of each believer with Jesus Christ, and through Him with God.
In a word, this prayer presents to us Christ's ideal of the king-
dom of heaven upon earth, and it reveals the differences in rank,
in work, in families, etc., as only means toward that high,
divine, and eternal goal.

We have thus considered, first, the particularism of the
Bible ; second, the transition from the particular to the universal
aspects of salvation. We will consider next the end of Revela-
tion.

III. THE END OF REVELATION.

This end is nothing else than the salvation of all the earth.
**In thy seed ,hall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
Beginning at Jerusalem is indeed the method prescribed by
Christ. But discipling all nations is the goal He sets before us.
The divine warrant for Missions is found in the reply to the
question whether the divine method of beginning at Jerusalem
is inconsistent with and invalidates the divine command to
disciple all the nations, or whether it is not rather the provid-
ential preparation for carrying out that command? Putting
the question in another form : Shall we make our personal
salvation or the salvation of our families or of our native land,
an end i7i itself or an end in God? If indeed all things consist
in Him, if Christ is right in giving us the first command, and
God is indeed supreme in the universe, then the end of all

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 383

Christian activity is not myself or my nation or my church,
but God ; and all our striving, wherever it begin, can end only
in bringing back to God that which is His own by creation
and by redemption.

We have not the slightest objection to a Parliament of
Religions, because we are sure that any comparison of other
faiths with our own will reveal the universal Lordship of Jesus
Christ. But we protest against men striving in a Parliament
of Religions or outside its walls in the name of breadth and
liberality to confine Christianity to the Anglo-Saxon race, and
to leave the Chinese to Confucianism and the people of India
to Buddhism. It is a false liberalism which says : The
Chinese have Confucius and the Western nations Christ ; and
we ought not to disturb the empire and create strife by attempt-
ing to overthrow established customs and national religions.
While such statements smack of breadth and culture, they
indicate a reversion to the old doctrine of tribal divinities. If
the God of the Bible is the God of the Anglo-Saxons and
Buddha is the God of the people of India, then we have no
right to foist our tribal divinity on an alien race. But this
theory, instead of representing breadth, is based on pride and
bigotry. Its advocates assume, as did the Jews of old, that
the God of revelation belongs to us alone. Pray how did we
capture Him from the Jews to whom He originally belonged ?
If God is the God of the universe ; if Jesus Christ is really He
by whom all things were made and without whom was not
anything made that was made, then He is the Savior of all
men ; and we have no justification for robbing the Chinese of
their birthright in the name of liberality.

(To be continued.)

Sometimes new missionaries are quite staggered when they see what
missionary life really is, and when they find that they are expected to take
their share of supervision object strongly, saying that that was not what they
came out for. They came out to do missionary work !

After all, what is missionary work? I take it that it is living Christ out
in a heathen land in every detail of daily life, being ready for any manner of
service, whether on behalf of the heathen or of one's fellow workers— whether
preaching or spring-cleaning ! There is^a domestic side to work in the mission
field, and my experience is that you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit as
much for that as for what we call the spiritual side. You have a duty to your
servants. Certainly they are very trying at times, but you have to remember
that you are " in Christ's stead ^' to them, and that in God's sight they are
as precious as yourself. It is the life that tells ; all around the people are
watching you, and are quick to notice inconsistencies in life and conduct.

Do pray for your missionaries that God may be sanctified in them, in
every detail of their lives— only thus shall the heathen know that the Lord
He is God (Rzek. xxxvi. 23).

By One Who Knows, in All Nations.

384 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor.

Conducted in the interests of the ** Educational Association of China."

Educational Issues from Native Presses.

IN the following pages we have given some reviews of
Readers and other books published by the Commercial
Press. This enterprising firm already has an enormous
sale for its publications but, being anxious that Directors of
Mission schools should be fully informed of the work they have
done, and are doing, in the preparation of text-books, the
Manager of the Press approached the Chairman of the Publica-
tion Committee of the Educational Association of China with
a request that the Committee would examine the books issued
by his firm and that, if these met with the approval of the
Committee, a review expressing that approval should be pub-
lished in the Recorder. The article which follows is a review
of the first series of text-books submitted to the Committee.
When it is noticed that of Vol. I of the first book mentioned
in the following review 355,000 copies have been printed and
that of the second book reviewed, 158,000 copies have been
called for in the short space of a year and a half, the fact that
the books are meeting a felt want will be sufiiciently demon-
strated.

We congratulate this enterprising firm on the excellent
work they have done. Considering the difliculties under which
they have been laboring, they have been very successful in
meeting the crying needs of those who desire Western learning,
especially in its initial stages. The financial success which
has attended their efforts has evidently been an incentive for
other presses to follow in their steps. We hear of one large
native trust that has been formed to work on lines similar to
those of the Commercial Press. The prospectus draws attention
to the desire for reform, the need for new books, and to the
changes wrought by having new subjects for the examinations.
In recognising that the press is a power in China, there is an
evident desire to have this power entirely in the hands of the

1906.] Educational Department. 385

Chinese for the Chinese. The prospectns mentions that the
capital and management will be pnrely Chinese. Translations of
good books are promised, with good illustrations. Central depots
and numerous branches all over the Empire are to be established ;
and the capital will be one million dollars, IMexican. The names
of the promoters are a guarantee of this plan materialising.

The development and increase of those native presses would
indicate a fresh duty on the part of the Educational Association
to keep in touch with the latest books, to examine them
carefully and to point out mistakes. The success and the
excellence of the books published by native firms will be a
guide to us as to what we ourselves should publish. There
will always be works of a higher class which it will be the
peculiar province of the Educational Association to print, and
which, for several reasons, will not be published by native
presses. So whilst these business enterprises increase on certain
lines, we feel sure that the Educational Association will have
its legitimate line of publications, in ho way antagonistic
but occupying a helpful relationship to the books published by
native presses.

^ liff ^ ^ 'h ^ ^ ^ Ife ff 1^- First Grade Chinese Reader for primary
schools, 10 vols. First volume, 15 cents; other volumes, 20 cents each.
Commercial Press.

Chinese children are no longer to spend years of their
lives memorizing books the meaning of which is as unintelligi-
ble to them as the handwriting on the wall was to Belshazzar.
This purports to be a child's book and is to be welcomed as
supplying a long felt want in China. There are ten volumes
in all, and the present review deals with volumes 5 to 10.

The books are printed on glazed Mao-pien paper ; the type
is clear and the price reasonable. The earlier volumes are
printed in bolder type, the size being gradually, almost im-
perceptibly, reduced as the book becomes more advanced and
the student, presumably, more familiar with the characters used.

There are quite a number of illustrations, some of them
from woodcuts made from Chinese drawings, and some of them
more foreign in appearance, but they are all good and will
serve to enlighten the page aifd tempt the scholar to study the
accompanying text.

Each volume has two coloured plates illustrating lessons on
Natural History. These are very well got up and do credit both
to the designer and the printer. If these plates were collected
and others added to make a fairly comprehensive text-book on
Natural History we would have a very pretty volume which
would be an ideal gift for the Chinese child.

386 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

The volumes consist of short stories on various subjects, and
a very wide range of reading is introduced. All the lessons are
eminently practical. There are lessons on grass, hemp, silk,
tea and on various animals, fish and insects. Anecdotes of
patriotism, filial piety and courtesy are given, and there is a
lesson on banking and on the flotation of joint stock companies.
These two last are illustrated with fac-similes of a Chinese bank
note and share certificate in The China Merchants' Steamship
Company. Altogether this is a healthy book designed to deal
with every-day affairs and is the very antithesis of the ' ' classics. ' '

Some of the lessons are old familiar stories like "The
mouse and the lion, " but there are many similar tales from
Chinese sources, and these do not suffer by comparison even
with ^sop's famous fables. Here is one such. "There are
no donkeys in Kweichou. There w^as once a man who tran-
sported an ass by boat to that province. When he got there
he could find no use for the animal and turned it out on the
hillside. When the tiger saw such an imposing beast he
thought it was a god and hid himself in a thicket to observe
it more closely. Gradually he drew near and perceived that
the donkey was in reality a stupid and senseless brute. One
day the donkey brayed and the tiger scampered off in a great
fright terrified lest he should be eaten up. Time passed and
the animals grew accustomed to the donkey and even ventured
to play with it. One of them angered the ass greatly, and he
immediately turned and kicked at it. The tiger was delighted
and said : "If that is your mode of attack I know how to deal
with you, and so leaped on the ass and killed him."

Another anecdote recalls the famous discovery of Archi-
medes when he leaped from the bath shouting "Eureka".
Tsao-tsao once had an elephant presented to him which he
wished to weigh, but none of his counsellors could think of a
scale in which to put such a ponderous beast. Tsao Cheng,
a boy of six years old, said : " Put the elephant in a boat and
mark on the side of the vessel how deeply it is immersed in
the water, then make the elephant come out and fill the boat
with stones till it sinks to the same depth ; weigh the stones
and you will be able to tell the weight of the elephant."

Here is an ancient story on the ways of Providence. Tsi
Wen-shi was entertaining guests in the hall. When the fish
and birds were served one of the guests said: "Heaven has
abundantly provided for man's wants; there are the five grains,
also fish and poultry; all are designed for man's use." The
guests all echoed these sentiments, but Mr. Bao's son, a lad of
twelve years, stepped forward and said : "All things are alive
even as I am ; each after his kind. There is no such distinc-
tion as that of lower and higher species, but there is a difference
in the degree of wisdom and the amount of strength possessed

1906.] Educational Department. 387

by each ; by the exercise of these they mutually subdue each
other. Man seizes the edible species and eats them, but heaven
did not, in the first instance, design these for his food. Mos-
quitoes suck our blood and tigers eat our flesh ; were we then
designed to be food for gnats and tigers ? "

INIany of the lessons are designed to stimulate patriotism.
The history of the intercourse of foreigners with China is
related in Vol. 10. The sketch, though necessarily brief,
begins with the Tang Dynasty and ends with the Boxer
movement. It concludes, "Alas! since the opium war, sixty
years ago, we have had to surrender territory eight times.
We have lost three dependencies and have been mulcted in
indemnities to the value of 7,000,000,000 (taels)." Is it not
pitiable ?

The plight of Chinese who emigrate to foreign countries
is also related, but it is confessed that much of the dislike to
them, evinced by foreigners, is due to the dirty habits and low
state of civilization of these emigrants.

Vol. 9 contains a short history of Chinese commercial in-
tercourse with the rest of the world. Appended is a list of the
countries which have diplomatic relations with China and the
dates of the various treaties. ''Our country pursued a policy
of seclusion and failed to understand outside affairs, so when
foreigners first came to China, we opposed their landing. They
compelled us by force of arms to admit them, but the treaties
being the result of our defeat were invariably to our disadvant-
age. Our people despised the foreigner and often rudely broke
the treaties ; this brought the foreigner again with troops upon
us and yielding to force majeure we conceded all his demands,
but our country was greatly injured.'* Now there are forty
ports at which foreigners are allowed to trade, but preachers
are all over the country.

A short history of Christianity with a picture of its founder
is given in Vol. 8. The Nestorian, Greek, Catholic and
Protestant churches are referred to and the tone of the narrative
is entirely unobjectionable.

The story of Buddha is related in Vol. 10. After a
favourable review the lesson concludes, "The Buddhists say
that prayer and alms-giving will bring secret luck, so stupid men
and women rush into their society wasting time and spending
money, and social customs are (femoralised ; this has often been
rebuked by scholars. It must be admitted, though, that the
great principles enunciated by Sakyamuni were wisdom and
pity ; these can never perish. ' '

The style used in the composition of these lessons is beyond
praise. Missionaries who intend to write or translate books
would do well to read and re-read the lessons in this book until
they apprehend the beauty of limpid Chinese.

388 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

Where there is so much to commend one ventures a few
criticisms with ^ome diffidence. As we have noted there is a
difference in the type used in the earlier from that used in
the later volumes of this book. The same progression from
that which is easy to the more difficult is not apparent
in the composition of the reading lessons. The lessons in
Vol. 5 are just as difficult to read as those in Vol. lo. This is
not ideal.

Now and then archaic forms are used. Especially is this
noticeable when the lesson is an anecdote taken from some
ancient book. The writer seems to have hesitated to take many
liberties with the venerated ancients. In Vol. 6 we read, 5L "F ^
?S ffi ^ i^ S § ^, Kung Dzi-gao travelled in Djao ; the ruler
of Ping-yuen entertained him, § ;^ is a form common in the
classics, but rarely met with in every-day correspondence. Of
course Chinese scholars must still familiarise themselves with
these ancient forms of speech, but they need not be introduced
in the elementary school reading book.

Uncommon characters are met with far too frequently. It
is true that these are sometimes unavoidable as when they are
the names of men or places such as |^* and j^ $|S or when used
to designate a technical process as pj the glaze on earthenware
g a drum, etc. But beside these there are many characters
which might well have been simplified in an elementary school
book, e.g., g, ^, Ji, Pg, ^ ^, etc. These and many other
uncommon characters must be learned ultimately. I only
contend that it would be better to postpone their introduction
until a higher grade text-book is used.

Wise old Dr. Faber said : *^ No nation can progress far on
the path of civilization till it has learned to say A. B. C. " I
have thought again and again when reading through this lesson-
book how much the cause of education in China would be
helped if a national system of Romanised spelling was taught in
all schools. The first year's course in all primary schools would
then be exclusively taught in Roman letters. By the end of
that term the scholar would be able to write every word in the
Chinese language in Romanised spelling and to read simple
lessons from the printed page. In the second year simple
characters would be taught and each character would be
accompanied by its appropriate spelling with which the scholar
would be already familiar, as A re?i^ 3E wang^ etc. When
lessons in the character were introduced each unfamiliar
character as it appeared for the first time in a lesson would be
printed at the top of the page as is done in this book, but it
would also be spelled and explained as Q Iwan lli ^, U^ kan
m ^. The pupil could thus proceed with his studies after one,
or at most two, years at school even without the aid of a
teacher. Until this system is adopted the scholar is entirely

1906.] Educational Department. 389

dependent on the teacher's oral instruction for any knowledge of
these new characters and as often as not the teacher himself
only guesses at their sound and meaning.

ic ^ W^ W. ^' Girls' National Reader. Commercial Press. 15 cts.

This book consists of extracts from the ten volumes of
The Chinese Readers noticed above. The style, type and
general get-up correspond with the foregoing. The selections
are arranged in short reading lessons and are, for the most part,
moral tales, exhortations discouraging foot-binding and warn-
ings against superstition. The following is a specimen : *' Wom-
en believe in retribution ; when they see good men happy
and evil men suffering they say * Heaven has eyes,' but this
(that happiness follows invariably on goodness and that evil
is always punished) can by no means be taken as proved and
need not be implicitly Ijelieved. There is a species of retribution
in the world which is absolutely certain. How is a home made
wealthy? How is the body made strong? W^ealth and strength
are the recompense of diligence and economy. How is a home
impoverished and the person enfeebled? Poverty and weakness
are the recompense of idleness and extravagance. Such re-
compense is absolute and invariable."

S ^ ^ ^ '1"* ^ t^ -^ 1^ fl" W' Vols. 3-7. Commercial Press. 10 cts. per vol.

** Elementary Ethics'' is the English title of this book.
By this is meant a book of ethics to l>e taught in elementary
schools. The book is printed on white mao-pien paper, the
characters are printed from wooden blocks and are specimens
of good clear caligraphy. Each lesson is a moral tale, and
occupies one page of the book ; on the opposite page is a wood-
cut made from a Chinese drawing illustrating the text. Each
book contains twenty-two lessons, and it is intended that one
lesson shall be taught each week, so that each volume covers half
a school term.

The stories are copied from ancient Chinese books ; some
from the classics and some from other sources. The following
is a translation of the first lesson in Vol. IH. "Chen Shih-gih
and his sons Yuen Fang and Gi Fang were celebrated for their
fame and virtue. The brothers were filial and the women-
folks amiable. Their conduct was appreciated by all in the
Empire." On the opposite page is a picture of the two
sons accompanied by their wives paying their respects to their
parents.

There is a certain progression in the subjects taught. Thus
in Vol. Ill the first four lessons deal with duties in the home.
The fifth and succeeding lessons teach the necessity of resolute

390 The Chinese Recorder. [July,

self-control, and from the fourteenth lesson onward neighbour-
liness and charity are inculcated.

There is, I" understand, another book published uniform
with this entitled ''Methods for Teaching Elementary Ethics."
Each separate volume of the "Ethics" has a corresponding
volume of ''The Methods for Teaching," which instructs the
teacher how to prepare and explain the les.son. This book
does not come within the scope of this review, but the two are
so linked together that it would not be possible to offer a longer
criticism of the one without referring to the other.

^ ^ 'Ji^ Ji S Wt. ^-f #. Elementary Physics. Commercial Press. 20 cts. Re-
viewed in April RECORDER.

^\^ ^ ^ ^-f ^ M ^^ ^. Elements of Botany, by lu Ya-cliiian. Commercial
Press. |i.oo.

This is a translation from the Japanese middle-school series
of a text-book on Botany. The book is printed on rather
poor white foreign paper and is bound in cloth. The style
is clear and simple, and there are many illustrations. The
English name- — sometimes, but infrequently, the latin one — of
the plant referred to is incorporated in the text, as ^' Calyx.
There are many misprints in the spelling of these names.
This a pity, for it disfigures the letterpress and gives a foreigner
the impression that the descriptive text is written in a slovenly
manner ; an impression, it may be stated, which is very far
from being correct. Foreigners will readily recognise the mis-
prints, but one can imagine a Chinese teacher with an element-
ary knowledge of English informing his class that, as this book
says, the foreign term for ;f^ 5S is Boot-cap ! Cellulose is
translated, or rather transliterated, *^] -g ^§ p] but, generally
speaking, the work is well done and the terminology clear.
We are told in the preface that the original book has passed
through twenty- six editions in Japan. Surely this is a sufficient
testimony to its usefulness.

^ ^^^ '^WJ '-^^ ^' Zoology for the use of Colleges and High Schools, by
Margaretta Burnet. Translated by Wong Ying. Commercial Press. 80 cts.

This book is uniform in size and general get-up with the
text-book on Botany. It is illustrated, and the pictures, though
not elaborate, are quite clear and serviceable. I have not seen
the original book, of which this is a translation, so cannot speak
of the fidelity, or otherwise, of the translation. The impression
one gets in reading the book is that the translation is accurately
done. The style is very simple, and the scholars who have
this book placed in their hands will have little difficulty in
understanding the text. The foreign names are not, as in the
case of the text-book on Botany, interspersed with the Chinese

1906.]

Correspondence.

391

text, but there is a copious glossary in English and Chinese at
the end of the book which teachers will find helpfnl.

The author gives this sound advice in the preface to those
who intend to use his book : "The teacher, before expounding
the lesson, should consult other books on the subject, so that the
scholar's mind may be broadened and his information not
confined to that furnished by one little hand-book." Ke then
appends a list of the books on Zoology to be had in Shanghai.
Three of the books named are issued by the Christian Literature
Society and none of those on the list are published by the firm
which has put this book on the market. That an author
should thus give a gratuitous advertisement and implied com-
mendation to those who are, in a sense, his competitors, is as
uncommon as it is commendable. We are sure those who do
consult the books recommended will agree that the text-book
under review does not suffer by comparison wnth any of them.
It is w^ell worth the price charged for it.

J. D.

Correspondence.

AN APPEAL.

To the Editor of
" The ChinEvSE Recorder."

Dear Sir : At the annual
meeting of our Mission, held this
month, the enclosed Appeal was
drawn up, and I was requested,
as secretary, to write and ask
if you will be good enough to
publish it in the columns of the
Chinese Recorder.

The statement expresses the
thoughts that have been in the
minds of the members of our
Mission, and we feel that mis-
sionaries should, as far as possi-
ble, disassociate themselves from
the military spirit which is pass-
ing over China at the present,
time.

We will esteem it a favor if
you will help us, by printing the
Appeal in your columns, to bring
the subject before the missionar}-
body.

I remahi,

Yours very sincerel}',
A. J. Davidson.

AN APPEAL ISSUED BY THR COMMIT-
TKK OF MISSION ARIKS OF THK
KUIKNDS FOREIGN MISSION AS-
SOCIATION, HELD AT CHKNTJ',
MAY, 1906.

Believing that all war is contrary to
the Spirit of Christ, we view with
grave concern the wave of militarism
which is spreading over the Chinese
Empire at the present time. While
we are well aware that all our fellow-
missionaries may not be al)le to go as
far as we do in this protest against
war, we still feel that this matter is
one to which the missionary body
should give a much more careful
attention than heretofore ; and we
would urge all those who are working
with us for the Kingdom of God in
China to prayerfully consider the
subject, in the light of the present
movement, and tlie revealed will of
God.

We are in this land as the represen-
tatives of the Prince of Peace, and
with a Gospel heralded with the
message " Peace on earth and good-
will to men." We come moreover to
one of the most essentially peaceable
nations in the world. Chinese great-
ness is built, in no sense, upon feats
of arms, nor is her genius a military-
one. Moreover, the true strength of
any nation depends, not upon her
efficiency from a military standpoint,

392

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

but rather upon the acceptance and
carryin<^ out of the principles of
Jesus Christ. The awful curse that
this spirit of Tuilitarisni is to Europe
to-day is sutficiently obvious to any
one who has studied the economic
situation. If China, too, is to enter
into this military race, as indeed she
seems to be doing, we believe it will
be a great set back to her religious
and moral welfare.

When we consider the facts we are
compelled to ask the question as to
whether it is right that we should,
even in the smallest degree, identify
ourselves with this military spirit.
In a large proportion of the INIission
schools and colleges in China there
is, we believe, some form of military
drill. We yield to none in our desire
that the physical side of a boy's
nature should be thoroughly devel-
oped. If, however, we introduce the
use of weapons, real or imitation, we
at once indicate that our objective is
rather to train men to fight. To us it
seems that to do this is not only not
within our province, as missionaries,
but is at once linking up the propaga-
tion of the Gospel with an element
directly opposed to the Spirit of our
Master, and we cannot but feel that
in this wa}^ a step is taken towards
defeating the very object of our com-
ing to China. Our earnest desire is
that the missionary bod}- may present
a united front on this question and
use its whole influence in favour of
that peace and concord between men
and nations w^hich is of the very-
essence of the Gospel of Christ.

"a paraphrased bible."
To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : After all that has
been written under the above
heading I should like to add a
word or two in suppoit of Dr.
Stooke's appeal for a paraphra.sed
Bible, or say rather a paraphrased
Gospel, which can be put with-
out hesitation in the hands of the
literary men of China.

When I first read Dr. Stooke's
letter in the Recorder I could
not but agree with him that we
badly need a harmony of the
Gospels, giving consecutively the
life and discourses of Christ, and

that we want this harmony boldly
paraphrased by highly educated
Christian natives who understand
the sen.se and can give it a pure-
ly Chine.se dress.

It is a pity that Dr. Stooke has
committed himself by mixing up
the st>le of the Delegates' Version
and the Mandarin Version of Dr.
John. But as I agree with him
in the main point and have
experienced something of the
same difficulties myself in my
own work, I am inclined to spare
him from any more criticism.

The main point Dr. Stooke is
contending for is this, that *' we
must have our Bible in a more
truly native dre.ss if the Chinese
are to be attracted to it " (p.
103). Though he utters harsh and
unwarranted words against the
pre.sent translations, including
"that literar}' rendering of the
Bible known as the Delegates*
Version," he has at the same
time acknowledged that we all
owe the various Bible societies a
debt which can never be paid,
and goes on to say " the}' are all
wanted, for they are invaluable
to our native Christians who have
become trahied to the styled And
his native friend, who is a " high-
ly educated man in his church,"
expresses the same opinion when
he says : " We who have been
long in the church have come to
love the Scriptures, hit 02(r taste
for them has been acquired. ' '

I have no doubt that this is the
honest conviction of many educat-
ed Chinese Christians, and in con-
versation with such I have heard
them over and over again giving
vent to similar expressions, and
though they admire the concise
and comparatively smooth style
of the Delegates' version, which
they prefer to any of the other
existing versions, I have heard
them repeatedly saying that even
in the last mentioned version

1906.

Correspondence.

393

there is scarcely one page which
is not calculated to offend a native
scholar's ear, and that we want
a version in a purely Chinese
dress. And they were honest
and faithful men, free from the
"fatal disposition of a Chinese
teacher to echo the missionary's
sentiments."

I need not be told that after
all no translation of the Bible,
however beautiful its style,
will suit the haughty scholars
of China, to whom style is
everything. I know that very
well myself, and not for them
am I pleading for a paraphrased
Gospel. But amongst Chinese
scholars there are also "seekers
after God," to whom our
present editions of the Bible
are not acceptable. " Lest we
offend them;' or as the R. V.
has it, "Lest we cause . //^dv;/ to
stumble," why not have a har-
mony of the Gospels " boldly
paraphrased by highly educated
Christian natives who understand
the sense and can give it a purely
Chinese dress?" The greatest
missionary to the heathen who
ever lived was willing to make
himself the slave of all that he
might gain the most. So he
became weak to the weak that
he might gain the weak. Are we
not to assume the same attitude to-
w^ards those outside the Christian
church to win them for Christ ?

The Roman Catholics have
been ' ' in their generation wiser ' '
than we in this respect. They
have produced a book exactly
answering the wishes of Dr.
Stooke and others. I mean the *
" Vita Do?nhii Nostri fesu
Christi, a P. /ulio Aleni, S. y. ,"
which w^as published in the year
1853- The Catalog us Libi'orimi
Venalium of Zi-ka-wei says about
this work : '"'Auctor iiullimi e qua-
tvor Evangelistis exacte sequitiir^
sed de singulis aliqua desumit et

coordinat, ita ut tot a Christi Do-
mini vita legentibiis clarius iiino-
tescat,'' and about its style :
" Stylus clarus ct mediocris.'"

To allow m}' readers to judge
for themselves whether this
attempt at harmony of the four
Gospels, giving consecutively the
life and discourses of Christ,
would not suit our purposes, I
will insert a few lines taken from
the fifth chapter of Matthew : —

Ji I.S H ^, ^ MUr Oj tola *

K # 75 * Mo:© tt G ri 3c t
S ^!loH t # 75 ift *s.:^ « )tl
m ^ ± 40^; a # 75 * «6.;®
4t ;i^ 'ji m -tlL-i^ ^ 4d ^ ?S #
7} ft fifiJV Jt m i'i il t^ 4,^

a 4..6 f? # 75 ft mM It JfiF

Ti^Hi. 4.fr m # 7i ft IS.
;© it Jiff 5f 5c ± ^ -T 4o:® «

|§ 5c ± lil 4=. to which I
add the "Call of Matthew,"
taken from the 17th chapter
of the book : —

M it .&o- Ha n-M m fir ^M
A£P!,.B A|fJai>:niS»S
m ^M IS! « la il,pjc ^ 1 i,

T« « T> « #,!«: A n t;. %M

^=1»?JM A,iaA@t4oS
T>ff A.

When I asked my scribe, who
is an educated Christian, what
he thought of the style of the

394

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

book he said literally : " This is
good style, smooth and at the
same time clear ; it would be a
good thing to put such a book into
the hands (5f Chinese scholars."
And this he said not to please
me, for he is a man very little
disposed to please foreigners.

Of course I do not mean that
the book I am speaking of would
vserve our purpose as it is. But
having found a paraphrased har-
mony of the four Gospels read\^
for our use let us make this a
basis for a similar work which
will suit our purposes as Protest-
ant missionaries.
I am, Sir,

Yours very truly,

ImmanueIv Genaiir.

To tJie Editor of
"The ChinEvSE Recorder."

Dear Sir : The April Recorder
just to hand. I am vSorry that
being very busy at home on fur-
lough has prevented my repl^dug
to the letters which have appear-
ed in the Recorder criticising my
remarks on the style of our pre-
sent versions. I must crj^ ** Pec-
cavi" for having included quota-
tions from both the Delegates'
and the ordinary Mandarin ver-
sions. But originally I had no
intention of criticising the Dele-
gates' version alone, to which I
now see the arguments have
solely turned.

I may say I possess no literary
qualifications whatever for con-
tinuing this discussion. I only
took up the r6le of a voice for
my native friend, who, I may
assure Mr. Bondfield, does know
the difference between Mandarin
and W^n-li.

And I am ready to stand or
fall by the opinion of any quali-
fied Chinese outside the church
on the style, let us say, of the ist

chapter of John or the Sermon
oil the Mount. I,et him have a
free hand to criticize it as a piece
of Chinese literature, and let us
have any corrections and altera-
tions he may make. For a native
Christian will probably be afraid
to tell the whole truth and noth-
ing but the truth to his foreign
pastor in the matter of the style
of a book which the foreigner
so venerates. If the Delegates'
version can stand that fire I shall
be very glad to use it for distribu-
tion on my return.

Yours very sincerely,

Geo. F. Stooke.

A cokrpxtion.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In the *' Records of
a Conference" recently held in
Peking I find it stated in refer-
ence to the term ^ ^ " that it
is the title used in the Anglican
Mission" for God. And this
appears to be assumed through-
out the discussion on the subject
in the ' ' Records of the Confer-
ence. ' ' Kindly allow me to say
that this is not the case in the
Anglican Mission in Fukien.
The Anglican Mission in Fukien,
now with its thousands of native
Christians, from its very com-
mencement, have used the terms
J- ^ for God and jg jfiljl for the
Holy Spirit, nor do I think that
these native Christians would
now be easily persuaded to
abandon these terms, wdth which
they have drunk in their spiritual
life. I should be sorry to utter
one word to discourage the spirit
of harmony and unity, for God
knows both these virtues are
sadly lacking in the Protestant
church in China, and I fear
much that neither harmony nor
unity on this subject of terms

1906. J

Correspondence.

395

will be promoted by the discus-
sions of us foreign missionaries
with reference lo it. I have no
doubt, however, that harmony
and unity on this question will one
day be brought about not b\' the
foreign missionaries but by the
native Christians themselves, and
who, I have no doubt when the
time comes, will be quite capable
of doing it. Would it not be
wise then to wait in patience and
bear with one another in the
present use of terms ? I don't
suppose now that any one will
be found bold enough to condemn
any term as absolutely wrong,
the use of which has been unde-
niably blessed in bringing souls
to the Saviour. What we want
is to find out what are the fittest
terms, and I think the native
Christiau church, guided by the
Holy Spirit, is the best judge
when it takes the matter up to
decide and settle this subject.
I am. Sir,

Yours truly,

John R. Wolfe.

THE USE OF PRONOUNS IN
CHINESE.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Will you allow me
to express my entire accord with
what Bishop Moule has written
in 3-our May number with refer-
ence to the use of the persoual
pronoun in addressing the deity ?
I am quite sure that it is contrary
to Chinese usage, and knowing as •
we do how largely the Chinese
are lacking in reverence it seems
to me that we should spare
no effort to beget in them a
deeper sense of the majesty and
holiness of God. To speak to Him
as to an inferior is lamentable
beyond expression. For myself I

have never used J^ in addressing
God, nor do I think my fellow-
missionaries of the C. M. S. ever
do so, but our American friends
seem to find no difficulty in
doing so, though at the present
moment there is a move in one
direction, e.g., a desire to sub-
stitute -Jf for ^ in the successive
clauses of the Lord's Prayer. I
should add that immediately after
the vocative in the Psalms we do
use {^, O Lord, Thou '^, as
this seems uecessar>' and does not
contradict what has been said
above.

Yours,

Ll. Lloyd.

on christian phraseology.

To th€ Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : I was much inter-
ested in the communication from
Dr. Stooke on smoother and
more acceptable translations of
the Sacred Scriptures. A few
years ago an educated Chinese
Christian at Foochow, a man
from the Foochow gentry, said
to me rather impatiently : " This
Foochow Bible isn't half Foo-
chow colloquial!" This is of
course an exaggeration ; but at
Foochow we have a sort of
Fung Kiao {^ fjc) colloquial.
Some of it is made up of terms
which did not exist originally in
the Foochow colloquial, but yet
are necessary additions to it.
They stand for Christian thought
and sentiment, and belong to a
higher plane, both mentally and
spiritually. Others, alas, are
just crudities which we have
introduced, because we did not
know how better to express our-
selves. Once when we were re-
vising the colloquial hymn hook
I remarked to one of our best

396

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

preachers that the book contained
a great many forced expressions.
He said : ** Yes, that is true ; but
folks have become accustomed to
them, and we'd better not change
them." Some of them now stand
for real additions to Foochow
Christian thought and feeling.
At the start some of them were
necessary, while others were
mere blunders ; but the dividing
line between the two is not
always easy to draw.

One marked difference between
Chinese and Western languages
is the extreme terseness of the
former ; and this is not so much
due to its monosyllabic character,
for it abounds in bi-syllabic and
even tri-sy liable forms, practical-
ly single words, but is owing
rather to the weeding out of
everything superfluous. On a
country road beside a small
stream we met a man carrying
a heavy load, and asked him,
* Were we on the right road to
such and such a place ? ' he
replied without breaking his
steady jog " Cha lu, guo chiao,"
** Fork road, cross bridge"; and
very soon we came to a small
bridge at which the road forked.
My class in English when tran-
slating into Chinese often cut
down the sentences in this fash-
ion, sometimes without slighting
the sense ; but at other times
they miss the finer shades of
thought in the English sentences;
and yet neither I nor they seem
able to express these nicer dis-
tinctions in neat, smooth-flowing
Chinese. For it is the language
of a race whose life has moved
along broad and well beaten paths
for ages, and has no need for
that minute fullness and flexibi-
lity which are required in the
Speech of progressing peoples,
ever enriching, diversifying and
expanding their lives.

I once received two copies of

revised easy Wen-li translations
of Scripture : one from Peking,
the other from Hankow ; and I
asked my teacher which was the
better. He replied, " The terser
one, of course."

The Eord's Prayer, Matthew's
Gospel, Peking Mandarin, con-
tains ninety-eight characters, and
even the new high Wen-li has
sixty characters, while the Eng-
lish Authorized Version consists
of only sixty-seven words with
eighty-seven syllables, and can be
recited more quickly than even
the high Wen-li. For it takes
longer to pronounce Chinese than
English syllables, much as it
takes longer to sing a hymn than
read it.

The Foochow colloquial ver-
sion of the Lord's Prayer also
contains ninety-eight characters ;
and once we had some contro-
versy over the rendering of
* ' Forgive us our debts as we for-
give our debtors." Our best sino-
logue preferred a shorter form, " I
forgive other's sins, beg you also
forgive my sins," which he said
fully expressed the idea and
made a terse well-balanced sent-
ence. But the form adopted is
about thus, " Beg Eord forgive
my sins in what one sort I for-
give those who sin against me."
One preacher who was something
of a wag, said to me, half joking :
" I like Mr. H.'s version better ;
it don't pinch so tight;" and
this confirmed the argument of
those who had clung for the
longer form. They said that the
harboring of resentment was a
very besetting sin ; and the
Chinese would make a mental
reservation in regard to any
wrong done to their own selves.
The shorter form expressed the
idea, but did not define it and
clinch it.

And .so as to John i. 2 ; — my
mild and candid profes.sor in Ex-

1906.]

Our Book Table.

397

egesis at the Theological Semin-
ary declared emphatically that
this verse was not tautology, but
necessary in order to bring out
and clinch the eternity of the
distinction expressed in the state-
ment * ' The Word was with
God." But how many Confucian
scholars would see this ?

Our preachers in the Shaowu
field do not seem to enjoy read-
ing Scripture in public. The
phrases often come awkwardly
from their tongues, and sound
stiff and hard compared with
their own idiomatic speech.

But the inadequacies of the
Mandarin are quite as much to
blame for this as are the tran-
slators ; and these men and their
audiences need these fuller, more
clinching forms, even though
they be not smooth Chinese.

One of our Chinese pastors
quoted Peter's reply to the high
priest in just six words, "Hear
God, hear man, which now?"
This expresses the central
thought ; but it Tacks Peter's
respectful bearing toward the
head of his nation and his
solemn appeal to Jehovah. Per-
haps the shorter form would be
more effective with an average
audience ; but they need to have
the fuller, devout form put square-
ly , impressively before them. We
have a preacher who has recently
passed through a very deep reli-
gious experience ; and now he
can read these long drawn awk-
ward expressions with a life and
appreciation that make them
sound appropriate and essential.
J. E. Walker.

Shaowu, May 28th, 1906.

Our Book Table.

HAKKA-ENGLIvSH DICTIONARY.

The appearance of an " Eng-
lish-Chinese Dictionary in the
vernacular of the Hakka people
in the Canton province" will be
hailed by many with great de-
light. By publishing it the Rev.
Mr. Maclver, of the E. P. M. in
Wu-king-fu, Swatow, has laid
the students of this vernacular
under deep obligation.

The book is based on a man-
uscript dictionary, partly in
Chinese-German and partly in
Chinese-English, prepared by
missionaries belonging to the
Basel Missionary Society. This
valuable manuscript, as we read
in the Preface was, in the first
instance, prepared by the Rev.
Th. Hamberg and the Rev. R.
Lechler, both of the Basel
Mission. The missionaries com-
ing to China in connection with

the Basel and Berlin Missions
since then had to copy the man-
uscript, as no other dictionary of
the spoken language of that
section of fthe Chinese people
existed. What an amount of
labour they must have spent
in copying this bulky volume !
And how relieved they must feel
that in future they will be spared
this !

Mr. Maclver acknowledges
also the help he has received
from the Rev. O. Schulze and
^ others of the Basel Mission while
preparing the dictionary in its
present form. The book owes
also much of its value to the
Chinese writer (and former
pupil) of Mr. Maclver, Mr.
Phang, whose correct knowledge
of the Hakka colloquial has
proved invaluable and to whom
he was indebted for many col-

^98

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

loqiiial phrases which are not to
be found in the older manuscripts.

The name of Mrs. Maclver
ought not to be forgotten in this
connection, as she has helped
her husband in man}^ ways.

The present book gives in the
main the language of the N. E.
part of the field, while the Basel
manuscript gives Hakka as
spoken in the S. W. corner of
the chief Hakka field. This geo-
graphical fact, as Mr. Maclver
remarks, will explain many of
the variations. As the pre-
sent reviewer knows very little
of the Hakka dialect, he has
consulted missionaries of the
different parts of the Hakka field
with regard to this difficulty and
has been assured that the varia-
tions resulting frpm this geo-
graphical fact are in no way an
obstacle in the way of using the
book.

One thing has struck me,
when looking over the pages of
the present volume, viz., the
rare use of quotations from the
Chinese classics. It would have
enhanced the value of the book
considerably if the author had
followed the example of Dr.
Bitel in his dictionary of the
Cantonese dialect, who not only
found an "astonishing" number
of additions to the definitions
supplied by Kang Hi in the
vocabularies to Dr. I^egge's
classics, of which he has made
use, but who also gives quite
a number of classical quotations
under almost each character.
And what has endeared Dr.
Kitel's dictionary to me and to
other students of the Cantonese
dialect is the careful division of
the given phrases into three
classes. Phrases derived from the
classics, for instance, are always
given first, and even the special
book from which each phrase is
derived is stated, which has

proved to me an invaluable
assistance in looking up a pass-
age, whenever my memory failed
me.

The next class of phrases in
Dr. Eitel's dictionary, consisting
of phrases used in the ordinary
literary style or in high class
conversational language he calls
admixed class," which is fol-
lowed by a third class of phrases
purely colloquial. This careful
division into different classes has
increased the usefulness of Dr.
Bitel' s dictionary very consider-
ably. And if I may be allowed
to give the author of the present
work a hint for a future edition,
it is chiefly on this line.

In a short introduction valu-
able information is given about
the Hakka people, their origin
and language, the Hakka tones,
its relation to other dialects and
the system of Romanization
adopted in this dictionary.

To adduce some instances of
how the characters are explained
I may add that for the character
Lin (S) the explanation is
offered: "Spiritual, supernatu-
ral, intelligent, efficacious;" the
character Shin (jjj^) is explained
by "Spirits, spiritual, superna-
tural, divine, mysterious," used
by some for ' God ; ' " and the
character Ti (^) by God, the
supreme ruler of the universe.
The Emperor as God ; vice-regent
(which by the way seems to be
a lapsus calami and ought to be
read : The Emperor as God's
vice- regent). Deified men."

The present handsome volume,
containing not less than 1,200
pages of valuable information in
royal 8vo., whose publication has
been liberally supported by the
governments of Hongkong, of
Singapore and of the Federated
Malay States (all of whom have
much to do with Hakka speaking
Chinese), has been printed by

1

1906.]

Our Book Table.

399

the Presbj'teriaii Mission Press in
Shanghai and can be had there
at the reduced price (for mis-
sionaries onl}') of $12.00. By
the same author, a Hakka Index
(Radical), price $3.00, has been
published at the same place.

I. G.

)$m^ bC. The Life of Pastor Hsi.
By Mrs. Howard Taylor, n^e Geral-
dine Guinness. Translated by Rev.
F. W. Bailer, China Inland Mission.
Presbyterian Mission Press. 10 cents
per copy.

The Life of Pastor Hsi, by
Mrs. Howard Taylor, is one of
the best missionary books ever
written. It has passed through
no less than seven editions, num-
bering thirty thousand copies ;
it has stimulated the faith of
thousands and has created an
interest in Chinese missions in
the minds of multitudes who,
before they read the book, were
absolutely indifferent whether
the Chinese embraced Christian-
ity or not.

A writer in the British Week-
ly told how, returning from a
Christian convention, he over-
heard one of the workers enquire
of another, ' ' Have you read
Pastor High's-eye?" (Hsi), and
on getting a negative reply he
earnestly urged his friend to at
once procure and read this most
helpful book.

Mr. Bailer has translated Mrs.
Taylor's book into Chinese.
But )^ M Mi SE is very much
more and very much better than
a translation. Everyone who has
read Mrs. Taylor's books knows
that she has the unique gift of
the litterateur. She knows in-
tuitively what wall interest and
impress her readers. Old China
hands shake their heads when
they read Mrs. Taylor's books —
they cannot help reading them —
and say ''Too highly coloured,"

but they are very much like the
young dilletante who watched the
old artist painting a landscape.
•' But," he objected, "I don't see
those colours in this landscape.'
"No," was the reply; "don't
you wish that you did ? ' ' The
story-teller, like the painter,
must have an eye trained to see
as well as a hand facile to
pour tray.

Mr. Bailer is a born raconteur.
It was to be expected that he
would tell the story well, but the
marvel is that in this translation
he has entirely changed the
standpoint from that of the
original book. He is not telling
the Chinese that Mrs. Taylor
told her foreign audience such
and such things about Pa.stor
Hsi. He is telling a Chinese
story in Chinese to the Chinese ;
there is not a phrase in the book
which betrays that it is a trans-
lation.

The story of Pastor Hsi's life
will influence powerfully the
native church. Surely it is
well that such a man should be
held in honourable remembrance
and this book is a worthy
memorial of a good man.

The style is Mandarin and
such Mandarin as one rarely
reads. I see that the China
Inland Mission has included
this book in the new Course
of Study drawn up recently for
its young missionaries. This is
a high testimony to the fitness
of the men who prepared the
curriculum, for no man will
^successfully pass an examination
on the language of this book and
remain a speaker of "pidgin"
Chinese.

The price of the book is ten
cents. It is even for its bulk
one of the cheapest books on the
market, and if it was a dollar a
copy it w^ould still have a good
sale, because those who desire

400

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

to know the Chinese language
and the Chinese people, simply
cannot afford to" be without it.
Moreover the missionary who
does not at once give a copy of
this book to each of his native
teachers and evangelists or,
better still, persuade them to
buy copies for themselves, does
not deserve to have good coad-
jutors in his work.

This edition is printed in clear
type on glazed mao-pien paper.
I wonder if it would not be a
good thing to publish an edition
de luxe printed on the best white
foreign paper, with cloth board
covers and numerous w^ell repro-
duced pictures of the scenes
amongst which Pastor Hsi lived.
I believe there would be a large
demand for such a book.

J. D.

The East of Asia. Vol. V. No. i.
March, 1906. Shanghai : North-
China Herald Office.

This issue of the now well-
known art quarterly is quite up
to the high standard to which
it has attained. Perhaps one
characteristic feature in this num-
ber is the Chinese illustrations.
In Mr. Ohlinger's "Studies in
Chinese Dreamlore," in ''The
Trial of the Tiger," translated
from the Chinese by Ardsheal,
and in Mr. Haden's translation
of the novel " Chao Chuin " we
have a large number of Chinese
pictures, so reproduced as to pre-
serve the pen -style of the artist.
Whilst graphic they are con-
spicuously independent of per-
spective. The leading article,
by Archdeacon Moule, " Ningpo
Under the T'ai-p'ings,i86i-i863"
is of special interest, partly be-
cause there now remain so few
eyewitnesses who can relate from
personal observation the events
of that great upheaval ; and also
because of the anticipation we

note in the T'ai-p'ing programme
of some of the reforms for which
there is now a growing desire in
China. Rev. C. Bone's account
of the " Chinese Moon Festival "
takes us right home, and in the
light of the big soft moon we
enjoy the beautiful autumn night,
and, like the home farmer, and
the more ignorant Chinese agri-
culturist, do not trouble ourselves
to find out that this peculiar
phenomenon of the harvest moon
is due to the fact that its orbit
(as near the autumnal equinox
as it can be) makes as little angle
as possible with the ecliptic.

We have no time to mention
all the articles, but should like
to draw attention to two more.
" Lights and Shadows of Chinese
Life" (Macgowan). These do
not merely pass over the surface
of things Chinese, but play in an
illuminating manner on their in-
ward subtilties and tastes. We
have a suggestive study regard-
ing Chinese indigestion and na-
tive characteristics which would
be worth elaborating into a sepa-
rate article. The second of the
''Lights and Shadows" C'A
Ramble through a Chinese city")
with the accompanying illustra-
tions, will be good reading for
those at home. ^ , ,

ACKNOWI.KDGMENTS .

The 15th Annual Report of the
Chungking General Hospital for
Men, of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Chungking, 1905.

Annual Report of the Tungkun Med-
ical Missionary Hospitals in con-
nection with the Rhenish Mission-
ary Society for the year 1905.

The Chinese Christian. May, 1906.
Vol. iv. No. 2.

CONTENTS,
(i). National Missionary Society of

India.
(2). An Appeal.
(3). On the Independence of the

Chinese Christian Church.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

401

(4). Progress of the Heavenly King-
dom.
(5). Church Activities in Japan.
(6). Notes of ecu.

The South Chitia Collegian. Vol. 3,
No. I. April, 1906. Special Philip-
pine Edition.

Sixth Annual I^etter to Friends of the
Ongole Faith Orphanage and Home
for Destitute Children. Febru-
ary 5th, 1905.

China's Young Men. Vol. ix, Nos.
I, 2, 3, February, March, April,
1906. Chinese edition.

CONTENTS.

No. I. The Founder of the Associa-
tion Movement.
The Great Revival in two Foo-
chow Colleges.

The Teacher's Responsibility
for Kvangelizing.

Larger Plans for China's
Young Men.

New Secretaries for China.
No. 2. The Object of Studv.

The World's Student Chris-
tian Federation.

Fundamental Principles of
the Christian Life.

The Author as an Evangelist.

An Association Song in Chi-
nese.
No. 3. Self-taught Men.

Bishop Bashford's Personal
Experience.

The Search after Religious
Truth.

The Secret of Business Suc-
cess.

The Business Man and his
Relation to Evangelization.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 44
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the
work they are engaged on, so
that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C. L. S. List:—

Translated by Miss Laura
White : — Christmas in Different
Countries.

S. D. Gordon' s book on Power.
By Rev. D. MacGillivray. (Finish-
ed.)

Booker T. Washington's " Up
from Slavery.' ' By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Simple Mandarin Church His-
tory. D. MacGillivray.

Guizot's Civilization. W. A.
Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the
Christian Religion. Dodge.

Shansi Imperial Uiiiversity
List : —

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Publi.shed
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

Text-books of Tokio Normal
School. Translated from the
Japanese : Meteorology, Iron-
work, Mineralogy, Zoology,
Physiology, Physiography.

Systematic Theology. By Dr.
H. C. DuBose. (Very extensive.)

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's " Sttidies in the
Life of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters.

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Mandarin. Rev. C. H.
Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

Couling's Text-book of Zoo-
logy.

Outline Scripture Catechism.
By Mrs. Hugh W. White.

402

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

Doctrinal Catechism. By Rev.
Hugh W. White.

"An Indian ■ Princess." By
Mrs. Bertha S. Ohlinger.

Abridgment of Mateer's Arith-
metic. By Mrs. Mateer.

Catechism on St. John's Gos-
pel. By Mrs. DuBose.

Rev. Geo. I,. Gelwicks writes
to say that he is working on a
Concordance of the Old Testa-
ment in collaboration with Rev.
H. C. Fenn on the New Testa-
ment.

Mr. MacGillivray's Classified
and Descriptive Catalogue of
Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out, he purposes bringing
it up to date for the 1907 Centen-
ary Conference, including all dis-

tinctively Christian books by all
Societies. Suggestions for im-
prov^ement and materials grate-
fully received from recent authors
and from Societies. He has also
in mind to publish a China Mis-
sion Year-Book, commencing
with 1906, to be issued at the
beginning of 1907, this to be the
first of a regularly appearing
series of Year -Books. Sugges-
tions as to what should be
included in these Year-Books are
now solicited. He would also
like to know from missionaries
what they think of the idea.
This has nothing to do with the
Centenary Historical Sketches,
of which he is Editor.

Editorial Comment.

We hope in next issue to

give some account of the visit

of the Imperial

uommentsota High Commis-

United States. The visit will
be fraught with greater results
than any tour previously made
officially or privately by Chi-
nese officials. But it is still
too early to forecast what these
results may be. The report
of the banquet tendered the
Commissioners by the Boards
of Foreign Missions centering
in New York, on February
2nd, is of special interest to the
missionary body. Many of our
readers will have seen accounts
of this banquet and the ad-
dress of H. E. Tuati Fang in
reply to the message from the
Mission Boards given by Rev.
A. J. Brown, D.D. One para-
graph of this reply is especially
important. It is as follows : —

It is a great pleasure to us to learn
from you, Dr. Brown, as the spokes-
man of the American Missionary
Boards, the assurance that the mis-
sionaries you send to China have " no
desire to interfere with our nritional
customs" or "to denationalize any
Chinese Christian," nor have they
any political object— that the)' go to
China "solely as a private citizen,
w^ith no official status whatever."
Furthermore, we understand you that
" it is a part of the fundamental
policy of the Mission Boards to respect
the laws of the country," and it is
the policy of the Boards to discourage
the interference of missionaries in
law courts when their convert is an
interested party in the suit. May I
ask you to go a step further by chang-
ing the word " discourage " to '* for-
bid ? "

The words of Dr. Browm

referred to, which we hope to

^. ^, ^ be able to print
^be time to ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^

^"^^^^^^^- were carefully
chosen, and clearly showed
that the missionary does not
have or even claim the right

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

403

to interfere in Chinese lawsuits.
He says : ' ' Indeed, your Excel-
lencies will recall that when
the Chinese government offer-
ed to give the missionaries
official status before the Chinese
courts, the American (he might
have said, the Protestant)
missionaries, with the entire
approval of their respective
Boards, declined to accept it."
He adds, however, the state-
ment that it is charged that
missionaries in the effort to
protect their converts do in-
terfere with the Chinese courts.
The difficulty of distinguish-
ing between real and pretended
cases of persecution on account
of Christian profession, the
heartrending difficulty of re-
fusing the prayers and tears
of relatives and friends for one
in trouble, and the ignorance,
incompetence, or covetousness
of some officials, — thCvSe and
other things have, as we all
know, sometimes led mission-
aries into a false position before
the Chinese. But the fact
that there are times when
it is necessary to draw the
officiaPs attention to condi-
tions of which they may be
ignorant, seems to make it
impracticable for the Boards
to ^*' forbid'''' the missionaries
to have anything to do with

law-courts.

* * *

For while we do not think

of impeaching the ingenuous-

TTK^ ^i^^ «-^ i^^ss of the Vice-
ube time to , ,

- , roy's remarks,

refrain. ., .'

there seems to

be a confusing of two distinct
things in his suggestion. One
is the interference of mission-
aries iu law courts in behalf

of their converts or others, in
cases w^hich do not involve
persecution for religion's sake,
or in any way void the
right jurisdiction of the courts
over the Chinese Christians.
Here it would seem the Com-
missioner's contention was
just ; and if missionary prac-
tice has in any case been
contrary with this principle,
the present attitude of the
Chinese government and peo-
ple, the growing spirit against
extraterritoriality, and a desire
to set our cause right in the
eyes of all, should suffice to
change that practice. That
there has ever been such
practice, however, unless in
a very few isolated cases, we

have no reason to believe.

* * *

With such interference,
should not be confused the
effort of a

flnOiviDual action

missionary

inadvisable.

to prevent

persecution of his converts, in
contravention of the treaties and
against all justice. Until the
Chinese government shows its
ability and willingness to stop
such persecution, the mission-
aries will be greatly impelled
to take cognizance of acts of
injustice, and as a last resort
bring them to the attention
of the officials. It is, however,
most important that such
•action should be taken by a
mission or station, and not
by individuals ; and only when
other means have proven futile.
If there are not perfectly
cordial relations between the
missionary and the official, it
is also desirable that such
action should be through the

404

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

Bepeciall^ in
present couMtfons.

consuls, both for the good

name of the missionary and

for the further check on him

of having the advice and
counsel of a disinterested but
competent person.

* * *

The changing conditions of
our residence in China, and
our relations
to its peo-
ple and its
rulers, demand a review on
our part of our duties and rights
in regard to this whole ques-
tion. Doubtless it will be care-
fully studied by the conference
next year. Meanwhile, it may
be regarded as certain that the
attitude of the Chinese govern-
ment is reflected in the words
of the Viceroy ; and that China
is more inclined than ever to
resent anything which looks
like interference, by individuals
or by nations, with her rights
of self-government. Such a
spirit is surely to her credit ;
and even well-meaning at-
tempts on the part of indivi-
duals to help on the cause of
justice may do more harm
than good, if they contravene
those rights.

* * *

That figures may be mani-
pulated and juggled with so
/nbfSBionar^ ^^^^^ they misre-
present IS a fact.
Iprosress. g^^ ^i^-^ ^^^^ ^^^^

invalidate the old statement
that figures do not lie. U left
to tell their own story, they
invariably tell the truth. They
will prove false the most plau-
sible prophecies, they will
refute the most wily arguments.
And this is what they have

done in the article by Mr.
Robert E. Speer in the January
number of the Missioiimy
Review of the IVo^dd^ entitled,
Has the Missionary Enterprise
been declining ? There are
always prophets of evil, both in
and out of the church, those
who can see only a dark
future, only disaster awaiting
the most promising enterprise.
There are always those who
are ready to say that a cause is
declining, because it has not
developed exactly as these
people who wear blue spec-
tacles think it should. One
does not need to read the
article if he will make a care-
ful study of the tables. But
one conclusion can be drawn
in regard to the growth of
interest as shown by the con-
tributions and the increase in
the number of missions and
missionaries. There has been
a steady advance in almost
every particular. Take for
instance the increase in the
number of missionaries. Ten
of the leading denominations
of America are represented in
the tables, and in every one of
them there has been an addi-
tion made to the force in the
field. In some cases this addi-
tion has been very large, e. g.^
the Domestic and Foreign
Missionary Society of the
American Episcopal Church
more than trebled its force in
twelve years, and the Method-
ist Episcopal Church (South)
more than doubled its force in
thirteen years. But it would
require too much space to give
even the salient points of this
article, and we recommend our
readers to read it.

1906. J

Editorial Comment.

405

IRelfalous Ceils
sue of tbe

BiU so long as so large a part

of the heathen world is still nn-

evangelized we

can never say

that the church

wlorlD. -g coming up to

its privilege or obeying fully
the command of the Master. In
this connection we have taken
the liberty of reproducing from
the Baptist Missionary Maga-
zine the accompanying dia-
gram (reduced). Accompanying

HEATHEN
8315: 732,0 do

PfiO^S^^"

it is the text, *' The kingdom
of heaven is like unto leaven,
which a woman took and hid
in three measures of meal till
the whole was leavened. '^ If
we have infringed copyright,
we hope the Young People's
Missionary IMovement, who
have issued this diagram, will
forgive us.

* * *

We take the liberty also of
extracting from the Missionary

Statistics of ^^^^'^^^^ ^/ ^^'^

while covering that in be-
half of Indians, Chinese, and
Japanese in the United States.
The figures are derived almost
wholly from annual reports
and relate in the main to 1905,
though sometimes the year
includes a part of 1904. The
aim has been to leave the
fewest possible blanks, and
hence, where the latest official
figures were not at hand,
conservative estimates have
been made, based upon former
reports.*' The totals for all
Christendom include figures
for French, Swiss, Dutch,
Scandinavian and other Socie-
ties, for which we have not
space.

/Bblssionars
Effort,
explains that

World the fol-
lowing figures.
Dr. Leonard
" the table in-
cludes only missions to non-
Christian &nd non-Protestant
peoples, and so omits work
done in non-papal Europe,

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406

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

As promised in our last

montli^s issue, we are printing

^ ^ ^^ - in our Mission-
0OO& IRews trom ^^ ,

^^ , ary News col-

Sbantung. ^^^„^ ^^^^.^^_

lars of Dr. Johnston's meetings
which have been kindly sup-
plied from different points by
four of our friends. It is in-
teresting to note how much
prayer had gone up beforehand
and what a strong desire there
was for a vivid realization of
the saving grace of God. We
rejoice in what we have heard
of the spiritual uplift, of the
new experiences of the power
of intercessory prayer, and
of the enrollment of native
teachers and preachers for
summer evangelistic work. We
would draw attention special-
ly to Dr. Bergen's last para-
graph :—

** We are praying daily for a wide-
spread revival in China. No doubt
this is the prayer of very many.
Could we not, as a missionary body,
deliberately form the resolve to meet
daily at noon to pray unitedly for
this?"

And also to the fourth para-
graph in the letter from Dr.
Hayes. It seems evident that
we require evangelist- pastors as
well as pastor-evangelists. As
one earnest worker writes :

' * I believe the two most successful
trips I ever made I served in the
capacity of pastor-evangelist. The
people knew that while a pastor, I
was not i/ieir pastor, and so did not
expect me to manage affairs, but came
to listen and learn."

Our title. The Chinese Re-
corder and Missionary Jour-
nal, does not

/IRtsslonarlcs
anO :©ooR0.

prevent us from
giving articles on
the spiritual life of the mission-

ary, neither should it preclude
our presenting something
occasionally that has to do
with his or her intellectual
life. In our February issue
we printed a paper by Rev.
H. W. Oldham on ^*Some
Recent Contributions to Theol-
ogical Literature." The
empha.sis placed then upon the
importance of keeping up our
reading has found an echo in
several hearts. In Mr. Bible's
contribution, *'The Mission-
ary's Book-bill " (p. 372 of
this issue) we have further
reasons presented for keeping
up our reading. It seems
strange that such advice is
necessary on the mission field
where problems of missionary
administration, the religious
ideas and conditions of the
people among whom we live,
and the changes in their
thought and life, — all present
an incentive to intellectual
activity. But is it not the
experience of most missionaries
that the endless routine of
crowding duties leaves little
time for partaking of the food
that is so necessary to our in-
tellectual health ?

The closing words of Mr.

Bible's article, "... unless we

^ ^ learn to read,"
SHOW anD wbcn , •'

sus:2:est an in-
to reaD. , ^'=',. T r
teresting line of

thought. Whilst it may be taken
for granted that missionaries
with their special training have
learned how to read, it is possi-
ble that all have not learned how
to fit reading into their lives.
There should not only be a
fixed place in their programmes
for reading ; but a good many

1906. J

Editorial Comment.

407

of the inevitable odd moments
should be consecrated to this
reading. It has been said that
culture, which is knowledge of
the best that has been thought
and said, can be attained by
any man who is willing to
make a good use of the odds
and ends of time.

In this connection we per-
haps ought to utter a word
of warning with
imibat to rea&. regard to the
disproportionate
amount of time given to read-
ing magazines. Away from
the home land it is so tempting
to turn over the magazines,
the advertisements of which,
even, are so suggestive of
home comforts, occupations and
conditions. Still in these days
we must beware of the indis-
criminate reading of scrappy
paragraphs. It has been point-
ed out that among certain
classes at home there is a
danger of losing the habit
of sustained attention. The
judgment of many has no solid
ground for its decisions and is
influenced by the merest trifles
and prejudices. But may there
not be a danger to us also, in
our frequent reading of magaz-
ines, in the discouragement to
concentration of mind ? The
reckless scampering across the
literary field, with the brain in
a whirl, must cause intellectual
thinness. Of course it will be
understood that we make an
exception with regard to the
missionary magazines. The
paragraphs on preceding pages
will show how much we value
their contents. But some of
them have a lack of individual-

ity. F. D. Maurice, in one

of his lectures, complains of

magazines and reviews, of

their colloquial phrases and

stock jests, of their loud,

rattling tones, as of one

anxious to shake hands or clap

our back on first appearance.

We do "shake hands; but

what do we meet ? Not a

man, but a shadow, something

that calls itself 'we.' ''
* * *

Two other phases of the

subject are suggested, but we

. _ have no time to

^'^^J«"r* take then, up.

financial aspect — How much
should a missionary spend in
books? We know from per-
sonal experience that mission-
aries do keep lists of books
they would like to purchase and
read ; one missionary called
such lists his '^ought-to-buy-
ography." But lack of funds
often prevents the despatch of
these lists. Another subject is
the quality of the lighter litera-
ture which, at this season of
the year, some missionaries may
find it wise to read occasionally.
A little boy once came to his
father saying: ''Tell me a
story. Papa." "What kind
of a story shall I tell you, my
little boy ? " "Oh, tell me an
antidote."

Our readers will welcome

the letter in this issue from our

<^ ^-u. *-. wise and witty
©nEtlcuettc. ^„^j^ ^^ ^^^^

367. He refers to a small
pamphlet by the late Rev. A.
G. Jones, calling attention to
the subject of" Manners." We
have not seen it ourselves and

408

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

would like to know if any of
our readers can tell us if it is
still in print. In case any one
should wish to study the sub-
ject of etiquette further, the
following references to articles
which have - appeared in the
volumes of the Recorder may
be useful :— In 1879 Dr. R. H.
Graves begins with an article
(p. 179) on '' Missionary Cour-
tesy.^'' In the same volume
Mr. Scarborough supplies three
chapters on native etiquette
under the title, ''Modes of Ad-
dress.^^ On p. 280 of our 1886
volume a lady contributor has
some remarks on ' ' Chinese Eti-
qnettey In 1895 we printed Dr.
Christie's ''Notes on Chinese
Etiquette ;^^ and considered
them so valuable that they were
reprinted in 1903. In 1898
Rev. G. G. Warren supplied
some further "Notes on Chinese
Etiquette^'^^ whilst in our last
annual volume Mr. Li Mou-
shun has an article on ' ' Eti-
quette in Chinese Official In-
tercourse ;''^ and Dr. W. A. P.
Martin (on p. 141) calls for
' ' Refor7n in Etiquette. ' ' We
rather think that Archdeacon
Moule has also written on the
same subject.

The work of the Young

Men's Christian Association

^* ^ ^ in behalf of
flbfncse Sfu&cnts ^^^ ^^^^^^^^

m Japan. ^^^^^^^ -^

Tokyo, the inauguration of
which we have referred to from
time to time during the past
few months, is meeting with
most encouraging results.

The accessibility of the stu-
dents was anticipated, but it has

surpassed the highest hopes of
the leaders in the enterprise.
The evening educational classes
have already passed an enroll-
ment of two hundred and fifty
young men. A series of meet-
ings was held by Rev. Robert
F. Fitch, en route to the United
States, with a total attendance
of more than one thousand.
Forty-five men made a public
declaration of their definite pur-
pose to live the Christian life.
The most of them are now
enrolled in Bible classes.

Rev. Burton St. John and
Mr. C. T. Wang are giving
their entire time as secretaries
to the movement. It has been
determined to open educational
classes in English during the
summer for those students who
remain in Tokyo. Through
the courtesy of Peking Univer-
sity, Nanking Christian College
and Lucheofu College, Prof.
Chen Tsai-hsin, Prof Li and
Mr. Y. S. Shaw will spend
the summer in Japan in assist-
ing in this educational work.

The Association has been
fortunate in securing a lease
of very excellent headquart-
ers at what is considered a re-
markably low rental ; but it
has been necessary for the
General Committee of the
Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation of China, Corea and
Hongkong, in order to close
the lease, to agree to advance
two years' rent or Yen 3,600 on
October ist. This places a
very real financial burden upon
them, and the friends of the
enterprise — which means all
friends of Christianity in China
— will be glad to know of the
burden and help to bear it.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

409

As we go to press Dr. C.

W. Mateer sends an important

^ -» ^ , correction. Ac-
2)r» /IRateer's . ., •

companyinor it is

Correction. ^ ^ \ ^ .

a strong statement

as to the evil effects of the use
of Shang-ti ; but as we said in
onr April issue we think it
best to '' mark time " until the
vote on the Peking proposition
is known. The amount of
material kept back indicates
how much our friends have yet
to say on both sides of the
question. Dr. Mateer' s correc-
tion is as follows : —

My attention has just been called
to a statement made by Dr. Sheffield
before the Conference on Federation
held in Peking. Referring to the
proposed compromise of terms for
God and Spirit, he is reported as
saying : — " Dr. Mateer, much as he dis-
liked it, saw that Shang-ti was mak-
ing headway and so gave up his views. "
I beg to say that Dr. Sheffield has
been misinformed, or has somehow
got a wrong impression of the case.
I have by no means given up my
views, nor do I see any sufficient
reason for doing so. My views are
based on firmer ground than a popular
stampede for union. I have studied
this question long and carefully, hav-
ing read practically everything that
has ever been written on it. It has
been said that the later generation of
missionaries are free from prejudice.
It is equally true that they are largely
uninformed on the subject.

* * *

We have received a booklet
telling of how the worthy
scheme of
the Mission-
ary Home in
North China
has materialized. In 1901 Dr.
Corbett and two other friends
made the subject a special
matter of prayer, and asked
that God , would graciously
answer prayer and send the
needed funds for such a scheme.
For many years the need of

such a place has been deeply
felt, and it was thought that
a missionary home, similar to
the one erected for the China
Inland ^lission, but which is
now mainly required for the
members of the Mission, would
be a great boon to other mis-
sionaries working in China,
Corea and Japan, who need
rest and change away from
their work and daily surround-
ings. As the booklet says :

" A few weeks or months in such a
home, overlooking the ocean on the
north and looking upon vineyards,
well-cultivated fields and high hills
on the south, have restored health,
cheered the spirits, given new hope
and courage, and proved a blessing
beyond the power of words to many
of God's weary workers in China. . . .

" When the first gifts came to IuukI
we opened an account with the Hong-
kong and Slmnghai Bank, feeling
assured Our Heavenly Father would
supply every real need as it arose . . .
and early in 1904 the trustees decided
to begin putting up the building as
far as the funds permitted. In order
that everything should be properly
arranged, a stamped deed or agree-
ment has been drawn up by the
American Consul-General of Chefoo
. . . thus securing the property for a
Missionary Home under the direction
of three trustees. A brass tablet has
been prepared and placed in the hall,
bearing these words : —

B IRevv /libissfor.ar^
5Home In IHortb
Cbfna.

Erected to the Glory of God» and for

the comfort of His Missionary

Servants.

J905.

" Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.'^
— Mark vi. 31.

Though the Home has al-
• ready thrown its doors open to
such as may wish to come,
money is still needed for inside
work ; and gifts may be sent to
Dr. H. Corbett (Wooster, Ohio),
or J. A. Stooke, Esq., Chefoo.
When the Home is complete
it will stand as a memorial of
God's love and faithfulness.

410

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

Missionary News.

Mandarin Union Church.

The Mandarin-speaking Union
Church in Shanghai reports eight
recent baptisms. A great need
is a mandarin-speaking Bible-
woman. If any interior mission-
ary knows of a suitable person
(elderly or widow preferred) will
they kindly communicate with
Mrs. D. MacGillivray, 54 Range
Road?

Good News from Shantung.

I. Weihsien.

BY REV. P. D. BERGEN, D.D.

At your request I send you a
few notes concerning the meet-
ings held in Weihsien b}' Dr. H.
A. Johnston during his visit
from May 4th to 8th, inclusive.

Eighteen meetings for prayer
and conference were crowded
into parts of five days, Dr. John-
ston appearing to thrive npon
the work, which seemed to us
almost excessive.

However it is generally ob-
served that the amount of work
we are able to do depends upon
the spirit in which we approach
it, our concentrated interest in
it, and our confidence in its out-
come.

In addition to the members of
the Weihsien station there were
present at the meetings repre-
sentatives from the English
Baptist Mission, the American
Baptist Mission, Sw^edish Baptist,
and the American Presbyterian
Mission at Tsingtau.

Amongst the foreign, and a
few of the Chinese workers, there
already existed a strong desire
for a more vivid realization of
the saving grace of God. Much

praj-er had gone up that the
meetings might bring us this
blessing, so that we were in a
measure prepared, but our faith
was not large enough to make
us actually anticipate that these
prayers were to be answered.

At our very first gathering,
although there w^as no ** sound
as of a mighty rushing wind,"
yet we experienced a thrill of
new desire for the salvation of
others, and a sense of the reality
of God, which made us feel that
the Holy Spirit was in our midst.

This impression w^as only
deepened during the following
days. At each meeting a time
was spent in united, voluntary
prayer, both silent and audible.
Other meetings were occupied
entirely by prayer, and the
answers which came, quickened
our faith in intercession as a
positive, effectual means of bring-
ing men into the kingdom of
God. We began to realize afresh
that everybody was accessible to
the Gospel ; that there were no
hopeless cases.

I will not attempt to describe
Dr. Johnston's addresses, except
to say that they were keen,
simple, spiritual, and filled with
Scripture. To this might be
added that they were absorbingly
interesting. Dr. Johnston is a
very exceptionally gifted man,
but his meetings brought me the
thought that any man or w^oman,
manifestly in earnest, and moved
by the Holy Spirit, will never
be dull.

Including fifty girls in the
high -school, there are over 300
students on the compound ; about
seventy not being Christians.
These have all sought admis-
sion into the church. Two of

1906.]

Missionary News.

411

them are Chinese graduates.
(Hsiutsai). Several writers,
and two members of the College
Facult}^ not Christian, were
deeply stirred, and are not far,
we believe, from the kingdom.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday
were practically all day meetings
for both Chinese and foreigners.
The students would not separate,
except for a short noon interval ;
the meetings consisting of pray-
ers, confessions, reconciliations,
and new resolutions for life work.

In addition to the conversions
above noted there has come to
us all a spiritual uplift, a new
experience of the power of inter-
cessory prayer. The daily even-
ing meetings of the students for
prayer and Bible study are
now characterized by an intenser
devotional spirit, while the for-
eigners at the station now meet
daily in prayer for specific objects.

We have received the good
news that from neighboring
stations the effects of these
meetings have been felt; this
being especially the case at the
E. B. M. station of Chouping
and the A. P. M. station of
Tsingtau. At the latter place,
special meetings conducted wholly
by Chinese are now in progress,
which are bringing a great bless-
ing to the congregation there, as
well as resulting in conversion of
several outsiders.

We cannot always remain upon
the mount. Life's sober duties
are imperative, and the old
routine must be resumed.

But we know that the best
part of religion is not rhapsody
or other poignant emotion , blessed
as such evanescent experiences
are, but it is that which remains
as a perpetual possession through
periods of toil when there " is no
open vision."

We believe that permanent
factors have issued from our

meetings which time will not
eliminate, and we thank God for
them.

We are praying daily for a
widespread revival in China. No
doubt this is the prayer of very
many. Could we not as a mis-
sionary body deliberately form
the resolve to meet daily at noon
to pray unitedly for this ?

II. Chingchowfu.

BY REV. W. M. HAYES, D.D.

As the Union Theological and
Lay Preachers' School at this
place was not included in the
original itinerary laid out in
New York for Dr. Johnston,
we were able to secure him for
one forenoon and the next
morning only. The time being
so limited there were no such
noticeable results of the meetings
as at Weihsien ; yet a number of
the advanced students, especially
those who had, during the term,
already manifested considerable
spiritual earnestness, professed
themselves helped by the simple,
direct way in which the necessity
for reliance on the Holy Spirit
was pointed out. A number of
students in the preparatory de-
partment reaffirmed their decision
to serve Christ in the ministry
or evangelistic work, while a
number of others, probably for
the first time, openly announced
their consecration to His service.

Nearly, if not all the students,
whether preparing for work as
teachers or preachers, have en-
rolled themselves for summer
• evangelistic work ; first indi-
vidually among their own kindred
and friends, and then in bands
going from village to village in
their own districts. How much
of the latter movement is due to
the meetings is not easy to decide,
but certainly they exerted a
strong influence in bringing

412

The Chinese Recorder.

[July,

about this result. We were all
sorry that the time was so short,
for the second- meeting (there
were only two with the students
as a body) showed a marked
advance in interest.

As to a general impression of
the meetings, while Dr. Johnston
shows a special gift for presenting
truth in a simple, convincing
manner ; yet this does not impress
one so much as the wonderful
manner in which the Spirit has
accompanied, in some cases pre-
ceded, him. This, I believe, has
always been characteristic of
genuine revivals, and points out
the importance of a yearning
dependence on Divine power and
a believing expectancy that the
Spirit will be present with power.

Dr. Johnston, I believe, makes
no claim to be an evangelist. He
is a pastor ; but he illustrates a
happy combination of the two
offices and leads one to infer that
while evangelistic meetings, as
carried on in the West, do not
always yield the happiest results ;
and while pastoral work, espe-
cially here in China, is very apt
to become mainly a routine of
visiting stations, holding com-
munion and attending to matters
of discipline and other difficulties,
yet a combination of the two is
the ideal plan. Certainly we all,
both foreigners and natives, need
more of the evangelistic spirit ;
while the other, as Paul's experi-
ence amply demonstrates, must
not be left undone.

While attending these meet-
ings one cannot avoid being im-
pressed with the fact that while
leaders on the Mission field may
not have all the qualifications of
some exceptionally able man from
the home-lands, yet we have men
who possess the gift of direct,
simple speech, and they have one
qualification which the other does
not have, namely, the ability to

speak in the language of the
audience. Why, then, if arrange-
ments were made for holding such
meetings at the various centres,
under the leadership in each case
of a man of marked evangelistic
spirit, might we not in similar
dependence on the Spirit expect
similar results ? Such things
have been done in China and
proved means of great good. If
conducted without reference to
denominations they promote
genuine unity — the unity of the
Spirit — and it would seem that
the Mission Boards could not
better further the great end in
view than by allowing consider-
able latitude as to the disposition
of the time of men with marked
qualifications for this service.

III. Chinanfu.

BY DR. J. B. NEAL.

I am glad to send you some account
of the visit of Dr. and Mrs. Johnson
in Chinanfu. Unfortunately they
could spare only two days to us here,
and still more unfortunately on the
second day Dr. Johnston was so dis-
abled with an attack of laryngitis that
he could not speak above a whisper,
so was compelled to give up several
engagements on the second day, much
to the disappointment of everybody
concerned. Notwithstanding these
drawbacks, however, their visit here
was most helpful and inspiring and has
led to results which we all trust will
be permanent. General meetings for
the Chinese were held in the morning
of each day they were here, and at the
meeting on the second day an invita-
tion was given to all who were not
already Christians to rise and make
public declaration of their intention
to become followers of Jesus Christ.
In response to this invitation some
twenty or more rose, including ten or
a dozen from the Boys' Academy and
one of the class of ten medical stu-
dents who are now here. In the
evening, at a meeting conducted by
Mr. Murray in the absence of Dr.
Johnston, the invitation of the morn-
ing was repeated, and I believe all
who had risen in the morning and
some others, including the remaining
two of the medical class who had never

1906.]

Missionary News.

413

professed Christ, rose and indicated
their intention to live the Christian
life. I should say that after the meet-
ing of the morning, which was held
at half-past eight, the medical class
requested that they be excused from
the regular work of the day, so that
they might spend more time in pray-
er, and the same was true of the boys'
school, so that during that day much
earnest prayer was offered for an out-
pouring of the Holy Spirit, prayer
which seems to have been answered
not only in the conversion of a goodly
number of the students, but in the
deepening of the spiritual life of those
who were already Christians and in
the stirring up of a more earnest spirit
among the church-members generally.
There has lately been a rather
marked interest in the local church
here; some twenty-five having applied
some time before the coming of Dr.
Johnston for admission to the church,
and his coming and his earnest in-
spiring talks have helped to deepen
and greatly broaden this spirit, and
especially to enlist the interest of our
students, for they seem to have been
the ones who have received most
benefit. We are hoping for still fur-
ther good results from this visit,
which we feel has already been
greatly blessed to us here.

IV. Chefoo.

BY REV. W. O. ELTERICH.

Dr. Johnston arrived at Chefoo May
15th from West Shantung and re-
mained until May 21st. Previous to
his arrival special meetings for prayer
were held by some of the missionaries
and by the members of the Chefoo
Presbyterian Churches in view of his
coming, hoping that his visit would
bring with it the blessings it had in
other places.

On Wednesday morning Dr. John-
ston addressed the students of the
American Presbyterian Mission in the
hall of the Chefoo English school ;
over 200 students being present.
Among the visitors were several stu-
dents and teachers from the newly es-
tablished "Tung Mu Hue T'ang," a
high school opened in the west part
of Chefoo by Chinese gentry returned
from Japan. The students listened
to, Dr. Johnston's address with great
interest and many were visibly im-
pressed. Six; students have since
decided to become Christians.

In the afternoon a prayer meeting
was held in the Chefoo Presbyterian
Church for natives. This meeting for

a weekly meeting was unusually well
attended, especially b}' women. Rev.
Spencer Lewis had been invited to
make an address, giving an account
of the revival in the Foochow college
which he had witnessed. Dr. Johnston
followed him, giving account of the
revival in India and at the Shantung
Union College, in which he had par-
ticipated. After this meeting Dr. John-
ston attended the reception tendered
him in the hall of the Beach Hotel,
under the auspices of the Chefoo Y. M.
C. A. Rev. G. Cornwell had arrange-
ment of this meeting, whch was for
the men of the foreign settlement in
Chefoo. Dr. Johnston's address was
listened to with great interest by the
audience, which was a comparatively
large one. Members of the consular
body were also among those present.

On Thursday morning Dr. Johnston
had the opening address usually held
at the beginning of a new term of the
C. I. M. schools. There was a large
attendance of pupils and their friends.
The pupils listened with greatest in-
terest and enjoyment, and some of
the older ones received a lasting
benefit. On Friday morning Dr.
Johnston visited the school for the
deaf, of which Mrs. Mills is prin-
cipal. Dr. Johnston had a large num-
ber of deaf in his congregation in
New York City, to whom he was
accustomed to preach by means of the
sign language which he had acquired.
Much to his surprise and that of every
one, he was able to make himself
understood to the little Chinese deaf
boys by means of the signs he was
accustomed to use in America. In
the evening he spoke to a crowded
hall of natives in behalf of the Y. M.
C. A. Many were impressed. Further
meetings were held at the Missionary
Home, at the Presbyterian Mission on
Temple Hill, and at the Chefoo In-
dustrial Mission.

On Sunday morning Dr. Johnston
preached a powerful sermon at the
Union Chapel services for the com-
munity. In the afternoon there was
a large union native meeting in the
Presbyterian Church. This church,
•which seats 500, was packed. The
congregations of the two Presbyterian
Churches and of the C. I. M. Church
attended. At the close of the service,
when all were asked to rise who were
not Christians and now decided to
become Christians, about fiftv arose.
For a week previous to Dr. Johnston's
arrival special services for prayer
were held by the men, which were
well attended ; many confessions of
sin were made and many reconsecrat-

414

The Chinese Recorder.

[July, 1906.

ed themselves to the Master. After
Dr. Johnston's departure meetings
were held for women, and seven
women and four girls decided to
accept Christ.

More such meetings in the near
future are being planned for, both for
men and women. In conclusion, it
may be stated that no one has come
to Chefoo who has so powerfully-

stirred up the hearts of all who had
the privilege of attending these meet-
ings, as Dr. Johnston. His visit has
been a rich blessing to all concerned.
His message has been delivered in
many places in the country districts
by the missionaries who have gone
out, and as a consequence many of the
native Christians are praying for an
infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

AT Changteh, Hunan, 8th May, to
Rev. and Mrs. Irving G. Boyi' ;tun,
Cumberland Presbyterian Mission,
a son (Guthrie).

At Changteh, Hunan, 29th Mav, to
Dr. and Mrs. O. T. Logan, Cum-
berland Presbyterian Mission, a son
(Tracy Harrison).

At Changsha, Hunan, ist June, to
Rev. and Mrs. Kari, Ludwig
REICHE1.T, N. M. S. , a son (Gerhard
Meidell).

At the Wesleyan Mission Hospital,
Hankow, on 2nd June, to Rev. and
Mrs. Louis Byrde, Church Mis-
sionary Society, Yungchow, Hunan,
a daughter.

AT the C. I. M. Hospital, Chefoo,
5th June, to Rev. and Mrs. A. R.
Crawford, I. P. Mission, Kirin, a
son (John Cameron Christopher).

At Taimingfu, 14th June, to Rev. and
Mrs. Walter Scott Elliott,
South Chihli Mission, a daughter
(Margaret Rice).

MARRIAGES.

At Peking, 4th June, Rev. George M.

Newell, A. B. C. F. M., Foochow,

and Miss Mary Reynolds.
At Chefoo, 5th June, John Howard

Stooke and Miss Alice Mary

Baller.

DEATH.

AT London, 2nd May, LuciK, wife of
Rev. W. Nelson Bitton, L M. S.,
Shanghai.

ARRIVAL.

At Shanghai : —
1st June. Miss Lucv H. HOAG,
M.D., M. E. M., Chinkiang (ret.).

DEPARTURES.

From Canton :—

17th May. Rev. Andrew BeaTTie,
Ph.D., wife and two children, A. P.
M.,forU. S. A,

22nd May. Miss H. LEWIS, A. P.
M., for U. S. A., via Europe.

From Shanghai :—

28th May. Rev. and Mrs. J. H.
Roberts, A. B. C. F. M., for U.S. A.,
Mr. and Mrs. G. McKiE, and two
children. Miss G. Trudinger, Miss
V. Lyle, all of C. I. M., for
Australia.

2nd June. Rev. H. F. RowE and
family, Mrs. G. W. Verity, all of
M. E. M., for U. S. A.; Miss A. T.
BosTiCK, Gospel Mission, for U. S. A.

3rd June. Rev. and Mrs. E. A.
Hamilton and two children, C- M. S.,
for U. S. A.

8th June. Mr. and Mrs. M. L.
Taft, Mrs. S. A. Tippet, Miss S. M.
BoswoRTH,allof M. EM., for U.S.A.

1 2th June. Rev. J. A. Fitch,
A. P. M., for U. S. A., via Europe;
Rev. and Mrs. Thos. Biggin, L. M. S.,
Miss R. HaTTrem, Nor. Mis., for
London.

14th June. Son and Daughter of
Rev. C. W. PRUITT, S. B. C, for
U. S. A.

i6th June. Mrs. C. F. Johnson,
two daughters and one son, Mrs. T. N.
Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. C. W.
Douglass and family, Mrs. J. A.
Sii^BY and two children, all A. P. M.
and all for U. S. A.; Dr. E. J. Osgood,
F. C. M.; Dr. E. Garner, W. U. M.,
for U. S. A.; Dr. W. F. Walker, M.
E. M., for U. S. A.; Mr. and Mrs.
C. T. Paul and son, F. C. M., for
U. S. A.; Mr. Barteli#, independent,
for U. S. A.

23rd June. Miss A. Lin am and
daughter of Rev. G. H Hubbard,
M. E. M., for U. S. A.; Mrs. S. I.
Woodbridge and family, A. P. M.,
South, for U. S. A.

30th June. Mr. S. G. and Master
Adams, for U. S. A.

m 3£ Js ± &

HKR MAJESTY THK KMPKRSS DOWAC.KR,

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3*50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. AUGUST, 1906. NO. 8.

The Study of the Chinese Language.

BY REV. D. WILLARD LYON.

THE place in a missionary's highest efficiency of a thorough
mastery of the speech of the people among whom he
works is so self-evident as to call for no discussion. The
path-way by which this mastery may be attained is so devious
and the rocks and pitfalls are so numerous as to make the
posting of a few signs and warnings along the way of no little
value to those who have never travelled the road before.
Certain underlying laws of mind need to be clearly recognized
if the work is to be done thoroughly and economically. The
wisdom of those who by experience have learned lessons they
regret not having learned sooner should be studied and weighed
if the mistakes of the past are to be avoided. A profitable
opportunity for the comparison of methods and experiences
was afforded at the March meeting of the Shanghai Missionary
Association, when a suggested scheme of study was presented
and papers on various phases of the subject read by the Revs.
J. A. Silsby and H. h. W. Bevan, Dr. J. Cormack and Messrs.
J. W. Crofoot and J. Trevor Smitlf. At the request of the Editor
of the Recorder I have undertaken to prepare a rSstmte of these
papers, adding such comments as may seem best under the three
headings under which I have grouped the more important parts
of the discussion, viz. : — I. The Object of a Language Course.
II. The Content of a Model Course. III. How to make a
Course of Study ejQfective.

416 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

I. THE OBJECT OF A LANGUAGE COURSE.

The scheme of study which was presented was prefaced
with the following general statement : —

" I. The primary aim of the course is to mo^Q good speakers.
Great emphasis, therefore, is laid during the first two years on
training the ear to recognize promptly and accurately the tones and
tone-combinations of the language, and on training the vocal orgajis
to reproduce these tones and tone-combinations.

" 2. Just as much emphasis has been laid on training the eye
to recognize the character as it was felt the ' average student ' could
give to it without injuring his health, or lessening his chances of
becoming a good speaker. ' '

In amplification of this thought Mr. Silsby, who has had
not a little experience in examining students of the language,
says : —

" The most important principle to be observed in the course of
study is the emphasis of the acquirement of a good working knowl-
edge of the spoken language. Everything should be made secondary
to this. My experience and observation has convinced me that any
extensive study of the character during the first part of one's course
is a decided hindrance to the acquirement of the spoken dialect.
During the first year, at least, the study of the character should be
only introduced by way of recreation and to give a little pleasant
variety to the tediousness of study along the more important line.
First the ear, then the vocal organs, then the memory, and last of
all the eye. This is the natural and only rational method, as I see
it, and when the time comes for learning the Wen-li, or even the
colloquial character much of the drudgery will have passed. It is
so much easier to learn the character after you have learned the
word which it represents, than to learn the character first and the
meaning afterward or along with it."

The experience of Mr. Trevor Smith, who for some years
has been instructor in Chinese to the employees of the Shanghai
Municipal Council, agrees with that of Mr. Silsby. He says : —

" Does the study of the Chinese character hinder or help the
beginner to learn to speak the language ? I believe it hinders him.
Beyond learning how to use the radicals, it seems to me, he ought
not to be compelled to do anything for the first year in the character.
What with training his ear to hear correctly and his tongue to
reproduce what he hears, it seems to me he has all that he can
possibly compass efiiciently."

The chief object during the first two years should be to
learn to speak. Learning to write the character is an exercise
which should, during this period, be kept quite secondary ; it
should not, to my mind, be given so large a place as is called
for in the second paragraph of the general statement given

1906.] The Study of the Chinese Language. 417

above. Not the health of the student, but his ability to make
a recreation of character writing should be the secondary limit
to the amount he does ; the primary limit should certainly be
his efficiency as a speaker.

There is a correlated exercise which demands a place close
to that of learning to talk, namely that of learning to hear.
It is one thing to be able to speak intelligibly, but it is quite
a different task to be able to hear intelligently. More mission-
aries, I think, fail of becoming good hearers than fail of
becoming good speakers. Foreigners are proverbially poor con-
versationalists in Chinese. This is, I am convinced, due in
part at least to the fact that they do not understand the neat
turns in the speech of those with whom they are conversing.
Perhaps from modesty or from fear of exposing their ignorance
they have failed to form the habit of asking the meaning of
every unfamiliar word or expression. This has resulted, un-
wittingly to them, in their becoming inattentive until now
scores and perchance hundreds of unknown words slip daily
through the meshes of their inattention. Little wonder that
such men are put down as stupid conversationalists !

To summarize the objects of language study I should be
inclined to say that no missionary can afford to have a lower
ideal than (i) to become able to talk intelligibly and readily
on any subject with which he is familiar, (2) to become able to
understand clearly and fully the speech of those with whom he
comes in contact, and (3) to become able to read with facility
the colloquial literature of his dialect.

II. THE CONTENT OF A MODEL COURSE OF STUDY.

The suggested course of study presented by these speakers,
as it was later revised in the light of the discussion which
followed the reading of the papers, may be summarized in its
main elements as follows : —

1. Romanizatioji. — During the first half year the system in use
is to be so thoroughly mastered as ^o enable the student to write out
anything which the teacher may dictate.

2. Ver7iac2dar Lessons. — The first year is given to a study,
without the character, of a book of primary lessons, sets of useful
phrases, and a book of common sentences. In the second year a book
of conversation is taken up.

3. Christia7i Books. — Mark's Gospel, in romanized, is read
during the first half year. A catechism and John's Gospel, in
character, are taken up during the second half year. In the first

418 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

half of the second year the other Gospels, the Acts, ten hymns, and
The Two Friends are read in the colloquial character, while in the
second half the New Testament is completed and the first half of
Pilgrim's Progress taken up. The third year completes Pilgrim's
Progress and undertakes the historical books of the Old Testament,
with the Psalms. In the fourth year the Old Testament is finished.

4. Writi7ig of Characters. — All the radicals, in order or by
number, are called for in the first six months. The characters in the
first half of the First National Reader* must be learned in the
second six months. During the second year the rest of the characters
in the First National Reader and all in the Second National Reader
must be learned. The third year calls for all the characters in
Martin's Analytical Reader, and the fourth year calls for the same in
the grass style.

5. Reading of Wen-li. — In the first year no Wen-li work is
required. The second year calls for the reading of the First, Second
and Third National Readers. In the third year the 6rst thirty lessons
of 'Yen's Manual, the Book of Proverbs, and the first four books of
the Confucian Analects are called for. The fourth year brings in
the Great Learning, one-half of Mencius, and ability to read the
local items and news paragraphs in a Chinese newspaper.

6. Memorizing. — Twenty household expressions and the Lord's
Prayer must be committed to memory during the first six months.
The second half year calls for ten verses of Scripture, ten Chinese
proverbs, ten common expressions, and a prayer in the vernacular.
In the first half of the second year the Apostles' Creed, John iii. 1-2 1,
and ten more Chinese proverbs must be learned. During the
following six months the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and
ten more proverbs are added. The third and fourth years each call
for the learning of ten quotations from the Chinese classics.

7. Conversation. — The examinations call for the following :
At the end of six months a conversation, with the teacher ; at the end
of a year, with a servant; at the end of a year and a half, with a
stranger in the guest room; at the end of two years, an address
before a mid-week service.

8. Co7nposition. — During the first year a weekly exercise in
composition is to be submitted to a senior missionary for criticism
and correction. At the examinations of the second year compositions
on themes, determined by the examiner, are to be handed in.

9. English Readiiig. — The following study in English is called
for in the course: At end of six months, Smith's " Rex Christus;"
at end of one year. Smith's "Village Life," and the boundaries and
capitals of the eighteen provinces ; at the end of a year and a half,
Macgowan's "History of China ;" at the end of two years, Martin's
" Cycle of Cathay ; " at the end of the third year, Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism ; at the end of the fourth year. History of the
Chinese Language and the Constitution of the Chinese Government.

* These Readers are published by the Commercial Press and are used in
a great many Chinese schools. They are probably now the most popular book
published for teaching elementary W^n-li to Chinese.— Ed. Recorder.

1906.] The Study of the Chinese Language. 419

Regarding the first point, Romanization, Mr. Smith, with a
logic which grows out of the policy of memorizing character
study in the early stages of language study, observes that the
student ''must have a Romanization of some kind, even if
he makes his own," to which he adds the further argument
that ' ' if the beginner keeps to the Romanized he is not likely
to find it so difficult to remember when to use the aspirate — the
proper use of which is of paramount importance." Mr. Silsby
adds his own experience in these words : —

"I have, during my few years in China, assisted in the
examination of more than a hundred students of the Shanghai dialect
and two or three other neighboring dialects, and I am convinced that
the man who learns to represent correctly the Chinese syllables
by means of Roman letters is the man who will have the clearest
and most exact pronunciation. Of course the pronunciation of the
separate syllables is not as important as the ability to master
the rhythm of the sentence, giving to each part of the sentence its
proper tone and emphasis ; — thinking in sentences and phrases
rather than in separate words and syllables : but we must first
learn the separate syllable and the tone of it, and never cease
trying until we master it ; then we can more easily move on to the
larger and still more important task of learning to make the proper
variations when these separate syllables are continued in words
and sentences."

The second and third points call for little comment. In
general the best vernacular text-books available should be used.
In the study of Mandarin, when text-books abound, there
is, I think, a tendency to require too much text-book work
to the discouragement of the student and the detriment of
other important sections of the course. The same criticism may
be made in reference to amount of reading often required of
the student. It is well that he should have enough variety
to maintain his interest, but he should be required to master
only a small portion of what is assigned him for reading ; the
examination on this small portion should, however, be
very thorough.

As to the writing of characters the principle of beginning
early and of doing thorough work on what is attempted, is
sound. But the introduction of a large amount of writing and
the arbitrary use of lists of characters which have been selected
largely because of the frequency of their occurrence in Wen-li
books is to burden the new student with a feat of memory
which is out of proportion to the good to be gained. The
student shall begin with the simplest forms and proceed from

420 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

them to the more complex ; having learned one character he
should take up another that is somewhat like it in form ; the
characters he first learns should be the ones he will most
frequently meet with. These three laws of simplicity, similarity
and frequency have yet to be applied in the mapping out
of a course of study ; but a little reflection will show that they
are fundamental. By their application learning to write may
become a delight instead of the drudgery it often is under
ordinary conditions.

The reading of Wen-li is very wisely postponed until the
latter part of the course. This is as it should be.

Memorizing is an exercise which has long been recognized
as necessary in the learning of Chinese. Caution should be
used in the selection of what is to be memorized. It should
be pure and not foreignized Chinese ; it should express a
spirit of interest in the Chinese, and not be the language
of the critic or cynic ; it should illustrate fresh idioms and
the idiomatic use of connectives and not be merely a set of
brief aphorisms ; in short it should always contribute both to the
student's efficiency in the use of the language and to his
social attractiveness to the Chinese.

Conversation is, after all, the crown and test of the value
of the rest of the student's work. At least one-third, and better,
one-half, his time should be given to this exercise. Two factors
must always be present to make conversation profitable — the
interest of the student and the interest of the teacher. The
student who has a teacher with a natural gift in this direction
is to be congratulated. He who has not may do much to
cultivate it in his teacher by furnishing the "starting point.'*
It may be a photograph, or an illustrated magazine, or a
typewriter, or a mimeograph, or a toy, or a piece of furniture,
or an item of news, or a story ; anything that will furnish a
fresh field for the exchange of thought ; but let it be worked
thoroughly ; plough the whole field, then sink a mine into it.
Repeat what the teacher says ; lay hold on the verbs and recast,
by question and answer, your sentences until you have exhaust-
ed the idioms that cluster around them.

Composition fixes the idioms that have been learned in
conversation ; it makes for exactness and for well-rounded
sentences. One of the best provisions of the suggested course
is the weekly composition. The student who will compose
faithfully, and who, after having his compositions thoroughly

1906.] The Study of the Chinese Language. 421

criticised by competent persons, will set himself to correct his
mistakes, cannot fail to become an accurate user of the language.
I know of very few courses where this is required. To my
mind the supreme value of Romanization in language study is
right at this point ; it enables the student to begin composition
at once.

To the list of subjects I would add another, viz., hearing.
The student ought to be required to report on what he hears.
It will prove an invaluable aid to him in learning to catch
phrases and idioms from the lips of others.

III. HOW TO MAKE A COURSE OF STUDY EFFECTIVE.

1. It is very important, in the first place, that there should
be a course, and that it should be closely adhered to. To have
no course is to do a haphazard work. The system and the
discipline of a course are indispensable to the student who would
make the best use of his time. But in the making of a course
there should be ample provision for the individuality and
objective of the student to work themselves out. It is a mistake
to expect one course to fit everyone. There is a certain
minimum of work which should be required alike of every one ;
but it should be sufficiently limited in amount to make it
possible for each one to do a good deal of other work not called
for in the course. We need more of the '* elective system ^' in
our courses of study. But having fixed on a course, let the
student hold to it rigidly, unless his best advisers suggest its
revision. It will pay in the long run.

2. Not enough emphasis has been laid on the value of the
examination. Some one has wisely said: '*Look upon the
examinations as meant to help you and not as an oideal which
you must undergo. The purpose of the examiners is not to
puzzle you, but to ascertain what progress you have made and
to point out for your benefit any errors into which you may
have fallen." To this end it would be well if the examinations
came more frequently. At least ^nce in six months ; once in
three months would be better.

3. A weekly review with an older missionary should be
insisted upon. Dr. Cormack observes : —

" At the present time, owing to the method, or rather want of
method that characterizes nearly all our missionary societies, much
valuable time of the young missionary is squandered in his early,
ineffectual attempts to make the Chinese teacher understand him.

422 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

Sooner or later, no doubt, from our early blundering we come at
last to the time when we are fairly well understood, and in some
few instances the more apt among the missionaries really get an
excellent hold of Chinese. But I would protest against the needless
waste of time and energy that occurs, owing to the want of a little
timely assistance from one acquainted with our mother-tongue and
also the language we have set ourselves to acquire. The half hour
or so a week which has been suggested to be given by the examiners
to the student is utterly inadequate, though, if it could be carried
out, it would be better than nothing."

Owing to the fact that most senior missionaries are already
overburdened with work, the new missionary will usually find
it necessary to assume the responsibility for seeing that he is
given this weekly review. He may find it best to enlist
different persons at different times ; but he surely has a right
to insist that he be given this help. It is to the interest of his
earlier efficiency to ask it, and therefore to the real interest ot
the mission that he should be aided in this way.

4. Where there are several new missionaries at practically
the same stage of progress in language study, the formation,
under the leadership of an older missionary, of a language class
to meet say once each week would be a valuable aid. On this
point Mr. Silsby writes : —

" I would strongly advise, whenever it is possible, that classes
be formed and that all the new missionaries in any one mission
centre meet regularly, at least once a week, for an hour or two of
instruction and drill. Such a class should be conducted by a
competent foreign instructor who has sense enough not to teach his
own peculiarities of pronunciation and idiom, but who knows how
to stimulate and direct the Chinese teacher. The foreigner can
often help greatly in pointing out mistakes and in criticizing errors
which the Chinese teacher has let slip. No foreigner should under-
take to tea<:h independently of a native teacher."

5. A fifth suggestion, brought out by Dr. Cormack, may
or may not seem practicable at once. Sooner or later, however,
the idea is sure to find fruition. I can do no better than to let
Dr. Cormack speak for himself on this point. He says : —

"It seems almost incredible that after all these years of
missionary activity, no one has, so far as I know, yet proposed a
Central Uyiion School for learning Chinese. We have union
colleges, theological and medical, and also union normal colleges ;
can we not also have a centre for language study properly organized
so that the new arrivals for missionary work might, under suitable
foreign superintendence, get a few months' help to master the initial
difficulties of the language and then leave for the stations, near or
far. No doubt such a scheme may seem at first sight chimerical

1906.] The Study of the Chinese Language. 42}

and so set about with difficulties that make it appear ahnost
insurmountable.

"How about the different dialects? one will ask. In such a
school would you teach Mandarin or Shanghai, or Cantonese or what ?
If Mandarin, would it be Northern, Southern, or Western ? Where
are the funds for the equipment of such a school to come from ?
Where is the genius to be found who has sufficient knowledge of
these several dialects that he could be of service to a beginner ? "It
can't be done," I think I hear someone say. But the problem,
nevertheless, may not be vSo difficult as at first appears.

" If time permitted I think I could outline a scheme for such a
union school, both feasible and practical, and which I believe would
be of great service to all students of Chinese in their early attempts
to struggle with this most difficult but interesting language.

* ' The China Inland Mission has had the Ganking and Yangchow
Training Homes for the members of that Mission for many years,
and they have proved to be an invaluable aid to their workers, but
these two Training Homes have had, to my mind, two very serious
drawbacks. One is all the missionaries learn either the dialect of
Yangchow or Ganking respectively, which, in the majority of
instances, they have partly to unlearn later on.

" Secondly, they cannot become available for members of other
missions owing to their situation and also because the rules of the
C. I. M. are such that a large number of missionaries would not be
willing to fall in with them. The great advantage, however, of these
training schools must be apparent to everyone namely, students have
there a few uninterrupted months of study under efficient foreign help,
when they are free from the care of either station or household
duties, while at the same time they have the opportunity of
attending Christian Chinese services. They thus get an excellent
start and are gently let down into the routine of missionary work.

"I have frequently heard missionaries express a wish for such
timely aid, but so far I have not heard any one suggest a solution
of the difficulty. I may therefore be permitted to very briefly and
baldly outline a scheme which might be of service : if not suitable
for a union school of language for the Empire, at least it may convey
a possible seed thought tor further discussion.

" My suggestion is briefly as follows : to provide, in addition to
the course of study outlined, some proper means of helping the
student fresh out from home.

This, I think, could be done by

"I. A central school for the study of Chinese open to the
missionaries of all societies and others who care to avail themselves
of it. •

" 2. The school would, I think, be best situated in Shanghai,
as the majority of missionaries land here on the way to their stations.
Moreover, this being a cosmopolitan place, teachers for the various
dialects could be readily secured.

" 3. The school should be in charge of a foreigner thoroughly
well up in Chinese.

" 4. The classes would be divided up into Northern Mandarin^
Sold hern Mandarin, Western Mandarin, Shanghai colloquial and
others if needed.

424 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

" 5. The expenses of such a school would be met by the fees
of those attending, and, as the necessity of having a personal teacher
would not be incurred, the cost to the home societies would not be
increased.

' * 6. The Gouin system of study might be adopted, which I feel
sure would give the best results in producing efficient speakers
of Chinese."

In closing I may be permitted to place on record some of
the results of my own experience and observation regarding
language study in the form of

TEN RULES FOR BEGINNERS IN THE STUDY OF THE CHINESE

LANGUAGE.

1. Watch your teacher's lips unceasingly ; they are, next
to your ears, your best guide to a correct enunciation.

2. Put into immediate practice the words and phrases you
learn ; only thus can you really become their master.

3. Be on the alert for new words and phrases and jot them
down, or you will soon be unable to hear them.

4. Do not be afraid to talk ; the Chinese will look lenient-
ly on your blunders now, but not so five years from now.

5. Be a walking interrogation point, or you will never be
anything more.

6. Learn something from every Chinese you meet, and
some day you will be able to teach something to every one.

7. Ride hard every verb ; it will lead you into more
idioms than twenty nouns.

8. Look out for synonyms ; do not be content with only
one way of saying a thing.

9. Learn a new Chinese proverb every week and use it
every day.

10. Do not let a week pass without doing some original
composing in Chinese ; be sure to have it corrected by a com-
petent critic.

We note in the American Baptist Missionary Magazine the following
item, which may be of interest to our friends : —

Missionaries passing through Seattle, Washington, either going to their
fields or returning to the home land, will be glad to learn that the Washing-
ton Hotel in that city will furnish them rooms rent free, provided the number
does not exceed four at any one time. This does not include meals. The
hotel and its position are endorsed by the Evangelical Ministers' Federation
and the Ministerial Association. Any who may plan to take advantage of
this offer are requested to write in advance to Rev. Fred E. Tayi,or, 3922
Whitman Ave., Seattle, Washington, U. S. A.

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 425

The Bible and Missions.

BY BISHOP JAMES W. BASHFORD, D. D.

( Continued from p, j8j^ Jtcly mnnber.)

IV. THE OLD TESTAMENT AND MISSIONS.

THE very definition of God given to Moses, **I am that
I am,'' excludes the possibility of any other gods. It is
barely possible IMoses felt that God might be the God of
the Jews only, and so he asked His name. But the divine answer
renders impossible any partial conception of God. We define
an object by placing it on one side of the proposition, and
then naming as the other part of the proposition the elements
or parts which compose it. For instance. Water =H20. This
is a complete definition of water, because it puts over against
water, on the one side, the constituents which compose it, on
the other side. Now putting God on one side of our proposi-
tion, what shall we put over against Him on the other side of
the proposition ? Shall we say : God is the tribal divinity of
the Hebrews? The divine answer to Moses forbids such a
definition as that. Shall we broaden our definition and say
God equals the entire human race? Here again our definition
is too narrow. I am not simply equal to the race which I
created, but " I am that I am." Shall we make our definition
still broader and put over against God the entire creation — earth
and sun and stars, men and angels, cherubim and seraphim ?

But here again our definition is too narrow to put along-
side the divine definition. If we put God one side of the pro-
position, the Old Testament insists that we put nothing less
than God upon the other side of the proposition. ''I am that
I am" is God's answer to Moses. In this divine definition,
God=:God. You cannot put Jehovah on one side of the
proposition and complete the proposition by adding Jehovah
equals the God of the Jews. You cannot even make Jehovah
the Lord of all the earth, and say Jehovah equals the God of
our planet, called earth. This definition sweeps us beyond the
conception of tribal divinities — one God for the Anglo-Saxons
and another for the Chinese. But this definition is not broad
enough. You cannot put God on one side of the proposition
and put the entire range of creation on the other side, and say
God equals the universe. This is pantheism. But theism

426 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

sweeps infinitely beyond pantheism. Put Jehovali on one side
of the proposition, and Revelation declares that the only other
thing, person, or god which you can put opposite Him and make
equal to Him is Jehovah Himself. "I am that I am ; " God
equals God. In the very definition of God, therefore, the Old
Testament furnishes our missionary charter.

If we turn to the account of creation, again we discover the
universalism of the Bible. The first chapters of Genesis, with
the variations which on their very face appear between the first
and second chapters, were not given to teach us science,
although there is a remarkable correspondence between the
order of creation revealed in the first chapter and later discovered
by science. But these first chapters of Genesis were given to
teach us theology, to make clear to us that God — God alone —
is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that is
therein. The very conception of creation, found in Genesis,
rises infinitely above the conception of a tribal God.

Once more, the story of creation makes the first command-
ment universal, and banishes all other worship. The universal
character of the Old Testament religion, therefore, is found in
the very definition of God, in the account of creation, and in
the first commandment. We have no more right to limit the
light of the Sun of Righteousness to the Anglo-Saxons than we
have the right or the power to limit the sunlight to the
European or American continents.

In the call of Abraham, which is the earliest record of the
beginnings of the Jewish race, we find in the language quoted
at the beginning, the personal and the universal aspects of
salvation: '' I will bless thee ; .... And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed." In the original call of
the Hebrew race, in the divine ideal placed before the Jews, is
the revelation of their personal privileges and blessings simply
as a preparation for their service of all the nations of the earth.
A blessing for the race inheres in the convenant with Abraham.
The call of the Jews is missionary in its very terms.

Turning to the Psalms we find, as in the Abrahamic
covenant, the conception of the personal and the universal favors
of God :

' ' God be merciful unto 7ts and bless us
And cause His face to shine upon its ;
That thy way may be hioum iipon the earthy
Thy saving health among all natmis''

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 427

" The earth is the Lord's and the fuhiess thereof,
The world and they that dwell therein."

It is absurd to say that such a literature originated in the
conception of Jehovah as a tribal God.

* ' The Lord reigneth ; let the earth rejoice.
Let the viultitude of the isles be glad."

China is in the first refrain, and Japan is in the second.

" Sing unto the Lord a new song :
Sing unto the Lord all the earth.

Declare his glory among the nations y

His marvelous works among all the people ;

For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised ;

He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols (emptiness)

But the Lord made the heavens.

Honor and majesty are before him ;

Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the peoples.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,

Tremble before him all the earth,

Say among the nations, The Lord reigneth :

The world also is stablished that it cannot be moved :

He shall judge Wi^ peoples with equity.

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice ;

Let the sea roar and the fulness thereof :

Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy

Before the Lord, for He cometh ;

For He cometh to judge the earth :

He shall judge the world with righteousness

And th^ peoples with his truth."

Surely the breadth and sweep of such Psalms shows that the
missionary conception is part of the web and woof of the Bible.

Turning to the prophets, we find equally the missionary
character of the Old Testament. Isaiah cries : Look unto me
all ye ends of the earth ; for I am the Lord your God, and
beside me is no other. ^^ Jeremiah's cry sweeps beyond the
Jews: "O earth, earthy earthy l^ar the word of the Lord.''
Micah foretells the latter days when the Lord's name shall be
established in the top of the mountains ; and all peoples shall
flow unto it. ' ^ And many nations shall cry, Come, let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord ; and to the house of the God
of Jacob. And he shall teach 21s of his ways ; and we will
walk in his paths. And he shall judge between viany peoples
and decide concerning strong nations afar off. And they shall

428 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into
pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.'* Habakkuk sings of
the time when ''the earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. ' ' Above the
babel of conflicting religions and heathen worship, listen to
Zechariah's triumphant song arising: "He shall speak peace
unto the nations^ and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and
from the river to the ends of the earth.'*'* Then Malachi hears
the Lord God Almighty sending back the glad refrain : "For
from the rising of the stcn even unto the going down thereof my
name is great among the Gentiles^ and in every place incense

is offered unto my name ; for my name is great among

the Gentiles^ saith the Lord of Hosts. ' '

We have thus hastily considered the definition of God, the
account of creation, the teachings of the Law, the Psalms, and
the Prophets.

As if to make assurance doubly sure, we have two books in
the Old Testament which seem to have been inspired solely for
a missionary purpose. The one is the book of Ruth. Ruth
was a Moabitess ; that is, she belonged to the race which the
Jews had been commanded to annihilate, a race whose corrup-
tion merited annihilation, and whose destruction would have
been for the good of humanity. But to show that this harsh
command rested upon the law of each nation reaping what it
sows, and was not a mere arbitrary decree, the Bible presents
this picture of one member of that nation who, because she rose
above her inheritance and environment and sought pardon and
protection at the hands of the God of all the earth, was provi-
dentially guided to the knowledge of the true God and at last
was incorporated into the chosen people. Ruth married a
Hebrew immigrant, and through him learned to love the true
God. Mahlon and Chilion, her husband and her brother-in-
law, and also her father-in-law, all died. Her mother-in-law,
Naomi, heart-broken and bereft of her natural protectors in a
foreign land, resolved to go back to her own people and
generously relieved her daughters-in-law of all further care of
her. Ruth refused to accept the proffered relief, and remain
with her own people. ' ' Thy people shall be my people, and
thy God shall be my God,'^ was the high resolve of the
Moabitess. And through her choice of the ideals of the Jews
and her acceptance of the Jewish faith, Ruth was incorporated

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 429

into the Jewish nation ; and a Moabitess, the child of an
outlawed nation, became the grandmother of the noblest king of
Israel and the ancestress of the Lord. The brief story of Ruth,
who in her sorrow turned to the God of the universe for comfort,
is the inspired effort to teach the Jews that their God is no
tribal divinity, but the God and Father of us all. The book
of Ruth was inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal the universal
and missionary character of the Old Testament religion.

Men have sometimes stumbled over the strange miracle of
the book of Jonah. I have no quarrel with critics who regard
the book as an enlarged prototype of one of the parables of Jesus,
written for the instruction of mankind. It teaches the divine
lesson equally well, whether we regard it as real biography or as
a parable inspired by the Holy Ghost for a providential purpose.
But personally I find no difficulty in accepting the miracle,
because, aside from the miracles of resurrection, I find no other
miracle in the Bible with so strong a moral warrant as that
connected with the book of Jonah. The Jews had become fully
imbued with the Pharisaic ideal. Their leaders had emphasized
the call to come out from among the nations and to become a
peculiar people so long and so urgently that many of the people
had come to regard the God of the universe as merely the
divinity of the Jewish nation. It was to overcome this Jewish
narrowness, to teach that Jehovah is the God and Father of us
all, and that Judaism must expand into the universal religion
that the book of Jonah was written. Surely if ever there was a
miracle with a moral warrant, the miracle found in the book of
Jonah has that support. The whole book is a divine effort
to induce a Jew to become an evangelist to the people of
Nineveh ; it is God's summons to the Jewish people to mission-
ary activity.

You remember that after Jonah is subdued by the hand of
God and is constrained to go upon the journey and to deliver the
divine message, he sits by in a surly mood, because the message
has been recognized as from God and the people have repented.
Jonah apparently would not have been troubled over a call to
announce the doom of a heathen people ; but he was angered by
the fact that an alien race listened to the voice of God and that
God proposed to spare them. He is the Old Testament prototype
of the elder ^on in the Parable of the Prodigal. How tender is
the closing verse, in which God indicates that His care extends,
not only to the heathen people, but even to the dumb beasts.

430 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

After God sent the sun to smite the gourd and Jonah's anger
had been aroused, God said : " Doest thou well to be angry for
the gourd ? And Jonah said : I do well to be angry, even unto
death. Then saith the Lord : Thou hast had pity on the gourd,
for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it to grow,
which came up in a night and perished in a night. And shall
not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six
score thousand persons that caniiot discern between their right
hand and their left hand^ and also much cattle ?^^ There is
nothing more tender in the Parable of the Prodigal Son than
this. Surely the God whose care extends even to the children
who know not their right hand from their left and to the
dumb brutes which perish, cannot be indifferent to the eternal
destiny of any of His children. The book of Jonah is an Old
Testament summons to evangelize the nations.

Surely, therefore, while we all recognize the divine call
and separation of the Jews from other nations for their spiritual
training, we must recognize that the Bible makes this separation
and training . only a means to an end. The object of the
separation of the Jews, the purpose of their training, was that
they might achieve for themselves immortal glory by helping
God redeem what He alone had created and by bringing in that
glad time when the earth should be filled with the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The doctrine of missions,
therefore, does not rest upon some particular passage of the Old
Testament ; it rests upon the fundamental conception of the Old
Testament as a whole. If the Old Testament teaches the univer-
sal creatorship of God in Genesis ; if it demands His worship
alone in the first commandment ; if in Psalms and Prophets it
denounces all other gods as emptiness and summons all the ends
of the earth to praise Him ; if it narrates the divine attempt in
Ruth and Jonah to turn the Jews from Pharisees into missionaries,
then it does not for a moment permit us to rest in the doctrine of
the ancient or the modern Pharisees that the kingdom of heaven
on earth belongs to a particular race. The missionary character
of the Bible inheres in the very texture of the Old Testament.
* ' And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. "

(To be conclttded.)

1906.] The Opium Question: A New Opportunity. 431

The Opium Question: A New Opportunity.

BY JOHN A. ANDERSON, M.D.

THERE is cause for profound thanksgiving to God that
now at length attention is being given by the British
Government to the claims of righteousness regarding
the traffic with China in opium and morphine.

Slowly but surely the iniquity of the opium traffic has
burnt itself into the Christian conscience, finding expression
in the formation of anti-opium societies and iu individual
and collective appeals against the traffic.

Portuguese traders brought opium to China in the sixteenth
century. In 1757 the Indian trade passed into the hands
of the East India Company. Britain inherited the traffic
from the East India Company, which had done its utmost by
smuggling and bribery to increase the traffic with China.

Two bloody wars were fought before China would consent
to legalize the traffic. These are popularly known as the
first and second opium wars. Some defenders of British
diplomacy claim that these wars were fought in consequence
of China's determination to refuse ordinary trading facilities ;
but although there was a question of trading facilities, the
facts of history show that the opium traffic was the cause
of actual hostilities in both wars.

The first war was caused by Commissioner Lin's action
at Canton in destroying, in obedience to the Emperor's
command, the whole stock of contraband opium, amounting
to 300 tons. China was defeated, and by the treaty of
Nanking in 1842, agreed to pay two million pounds sterling
for the opium that had been destroyed and four millions
for war expenses, to cede Hongkong to Britain, and to open
Shanghai, Ningpo, Foochow, and Amoy to trade.

Hongkong, now a British territory, was made a depot for
opium, which was shipped in native junks (registered under
the British flag) to places along tl« Chinese coast. It should be
remembered that up to this time opium remained a contraband
article of trade in China. The Emperor had resolutely refused to
legalize it when concluding the Nanking treaty, and it was not
till after the second war that it became a legalized article of trade.

The second war was caused through the capture by the
Chinese of a native junk called the Arrow, It was flying

432 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

the British flag and had been employed in the opium smuggling
business. The Chinese were again defeated and were compelled
in 1858, by the treaty of Tientsin, to legalize the opium
traffic. But they refused to ratify the treaty till two years later.
Meanwhile British envoys were badly treated and imprisoned.
As a result war was recommenced and the Kmperor's summer
palace was destroyed as a punishment for disregard of the
newly-made treaty and ill-treatment of the envoys.

In accordance with the Chefoo Convenion of 1885 Indian
opium is heavily taxed at the port of entry into China and
freed from likin dues.

Indian opium is now pouring into this country at the rate
of about sixty tons every week. This is all used as it comes,
and 400 tons weekly, besides, of Chinese grown opium, are
required to satisfy China's terrible craving for the drug. What
a task to stop such a torrent ! As to morphine I will quote the
leader from Shanghai Merawy of June 28th : —

"No pen can picture the awfulness of the results upon
those who have become slaves to the detestable vice of morphia
taking.

Strange to say morphia was introduced into China by
the best of men for the best of purposes, viz. , as a cure for the
opium habit. The men who first taught its use to the natives
\vere missionaries, and it is certain that they began the use,
little thinking of the dire results that might spring from it.
Morphia satisfied the craving of the most besotted opium
smoker. Could anything be more promising ? Why not use
it ? And used it was. Only to the extent of 460 ounces which
were brought into Amoy in 1891. But in nine years this small
amount had been multiplied thirty-six times, and it was all used,
but there were no cures. It was a case of the turning out
of one devil only to find his place occupied by a worse.

The following table will show the ups and downs of
its import into Shanghai from 1892 to 1901 : —

H. Tls.

12,325

32,462

63,289

76,886

89,536

112,796
109,570

197,602

145-864

178,743

Year.

Ounces.

1892

15,761

1993

27,993

1894 ...

43,414

1895 ...

64,043

1896

67,320

1897 ...

68,170

1898

75,748

1899 ...

... i33>764

1900

93,667

19OI

114,080

1906.] The Opium Question: A New Opportunity. 433

It goes without saying that since the missionaries and
their people have known the curses as well as the blessings
of morphia they have done their utmost to stop the evil thus
unfortunately introduced amongst their people. But it is easy
to start a stone rolling on the hillside ; it is quite another
matter to arrest its course. The slip of a single foot may
be the means of originating the avalanche which buries a whole

valley beneath its ruined homes. So with morphia

There is no medium coarse with such insidious poisons as this.
None but the physician or the surgeon should be permitted
to purchase, hold, or use such drugs, and the penalty for
offences against the regulation so laid down should be ex-
emplary. We have seen the effects of which we speak and are
convinced of the desirability of all the strictness that law
can devise and dertermination enforce.^'

A great evil is discussed in the above quotation. We
cannot accept the sweeping condemnation passed upon mission-
aries. Undoubtedly those who are not missionaries have taught
natives the use of morphine for the opium habit in such places
as Shanghai and Amoy. But the terrible facts of the habit
are as described, and these are matters of the first importance.

They demand the immediate attention of every Chinese
missionary. Earnest prayer is needed — '* For this moreover
will I be inquired of" Ezek. xxxvi. 37,

W^ell may we fast and pray and be humbled on account of
the untold misery that our race has brought on China. We
must pray, but we must work. ^'Is not this the fast that
I have chosen ? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the
bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that
ye break every yoke."

ist. Let there be no flagging in our prayers nor in our
efforts, until there is complete cessation of the Indo-Chinese
opium traffic.

2nd. Let every missionary instruct his or her helpers
and church members about morphine and its evils. They
are identical with those of opimm, only worse. The trade
in morphine or morphine pills or tablets should be treated
the same as the trade in opium. ^Morphine is an alkaloid of
opium, and should be reckoned as concentrated opium.

3rd. ]\Iore attention should be given to helping men and
women to break off the opium habit. No morphine in powder,
pill, or solution should be given for them to take in their

434 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

own homes. Every case should, if possible, be kept for a month
under the personal care of the missionary or a reliable native
helper. This means more opium refuge work and more
personal effort in winning these poor creatures to the Saviour.

4th. Unceasing prayer and effort should be made regard-
ing the attitude of China's Central Government, and provincial
authorities and local communities, to the native cultivation
and use of opium.

We stand at the opening of a new era. May God graciously
cause us to understand the times. Great issues depend upon
our attitude in this great crisis.

As the opium traffic proved one of the greatest hindrances
to missionary work in this land during the past century, so
the stoppage of the traffic may prove the greatest help to
missionary work in the beginning of the present century.

Address of the Rev. Arthur Judson Brown, D.D., at the
Banquet to the Chinese Imperial High Commissioners.

[As promised in our July issue, we give a condensed report of the address
Dr. Brown was requested to deliver on behalf of the Missionary Boards at the
banquet to the Chinese Commissioners in New York on February 2nd. See
Editorial Comment in this month's issue. — Kd. Recorder.]

THE Christian friends of China in New York welcome the
High Commissioners of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
Since their Excellencies have come to study American
institutions, we deem it proper to emphasize the foundation upon
which those institutions rest, to show that the best sentiment of
America is friendly to China, and that this friendship finds its'
highest expression in the missionary movement. We recall with
pleasure that when His Excellency Viceroy Tuan Fong was Gover-
nor of Hunan, he visited a mission school, watched a game of
football and kicked the ball himself. In 1900, in Sbensi, he was
one of the four great governors whose wisdom and firmness checked
the spread of the Boxer outbreak. By his personal efforts he saved
the lives of a score of foreign missionaries, receiving them into his
yamen, and when they left for Hangchou, sending' an escort of
soldiers to protect them and giving tliem money to meet the expenses
of the journey. We are happy to welcome as his associate that
trusted adviser of His Imperial Majesty, His Excellency Tai Hung-
chi, Vice-President of the Board of Revenue. We count ourselves
fortunate, too, in the presence of His Excellency Sir Chentung
Liang-cheng, the Chinese Minister to the United States. We have
a pardonable pride in him as a graduate of Andover Academy and

1906.] Address of the Rev. Arthur Judson Brown, D.D. 435

Amherst College, and a diplomat whose tact and ability are doing
much to promote kindly feeling between the United States and China.

The deep interest of American Protestants in China, and the
reasonableness of their desire to give some expression to it at this
time, will appear in the fact that they are maintaining in the Chinese
Empire 1,123 missionaries, 1,000 schools and colleges, 100 hospitals
and dispensaries which treat every year 400,000 patients, 9 presses
which issue annually 119,000,000 pages ; while they are expending
in the maintenance of this enterprise over $1,250,000 a year.

Their motive in all this is wholly unselfish. They expect no
return whatever except the consciousness of duty performed. As
citizens they are glad to have trade with China increased, but as
missionary workers they have no connection with it.

They have no desire to interfere with national customs as such
or to denationalize any Chinese Christian. China should remain
China, and we recognize the unwisdom of trying to Americanize her.
Nor is there need to do so. I appeal to the dispassionate sense of
this distinguished audience whether the robes of a Chinese gentle-
man are not handsomer than the black "swallow-tails" in which
we Americans are compelled by fashion to appear to-night. At the
risk of catching it later, I venture the assertion, too, that the dress
of Chinese ladies is more sensible and more becoming than the dress
of American ladies

It will thus be seen that recriminations regarding national
customs are not apt to be convincing to either party. From this
viewpoint at least we may discreetly remember that

" There is so much bad in the best of us,
And so much good in the worst of us,
That it hardly behooves any of us
To talk about the rest of us."

The missionary opposes only what is essentially wrong, and wrong
has no race or longitude. Christianity hates it in New York as well
as in Peking. As for honor to ancestors, we, who venerate the memory
of Washington and of Lincoln, who set apart a day to decorate the
graves of our fallen soldiers, who keep in our homes the portraits
of our fathers and mothers and stand with full hearts beside their
hallowed dust — we would have the Chinese Christians pay all the
respect to the memory of Confucius and of their deceased parents
that should be paid to any human being and that is consistent with
the worship which belongs to God alone.

Nor does the missionary wish to give China a different civiliza-
tion. China has a civilization of her own, more ancient than ours
and quite as well adapted to her nee^s. We remember with respect
that the Chinese are frugal, industrious and respectful to parents.
All the world is indebted to a people whose astronomers made
accurate observations 200 years before Abraham left Ur ; who used
firearms at the beginning of the Christian era ; who first grew tea,
manufactured gunpowder, made pottery, glue and gelatine ; who
used paper 150 years before Christ ; who invented printing by
movable types 500 years before that art was known in Europe ; who
originated banks, discovered the mariner's compass, dug the first
canal, built the first arch, made mountain roads which "when new

436 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

probably equalled in engineering and construction anything of the
kind ever built by Romans;" and who wore silk and lived in
houses when our ancestors slept in caves and wore the undressed
skins of wild animals.

Nor has the missionary a political object. The Boards have no
relation to the Government. They do not consult it and it does not
consult them. In view of the relations of some European Govern-
ments to the missionaries of their nationalities, the fact should be
emphasized that the American missionary goes to China solely as a
private citizen with no official status whatever. Indeed your
Excellencies will recall that when the Chinese Government offered
to give the missionaries official status before the Chinese courts, the
American missionaries, with the entire approval of their respective
Boards, declined to accept it. It is often charged that missionaries
in the effort to protect their converts interfere with Chinese courts.
We do not deny that this is occasionally done. But the policy of
the Boards is to discourage such interference and our mi.ssiouaries
themselves are more and more clearly seeing the imprudence of it.
Comparatively seldom now does an American missionary give
offence in this matter. It is a part of the fundamental policy of the
Mission Boards to respect the laws of the country within which work
is conducted.

We go further and frankly admit that China has not always
been treated justly b}^ Western nations. We deplore the aggressions
of some European Powers. We concede that the destruction of
opium in Canton harbour by Chinese w^as as righteous as the
destruction of tea in Boston harbour by our revolutionary sires.

As for the treatment of Chinese immigrants in the United
States, let us with equal frankness tell our distinguished guests that
the best people of this country regard it as iniquitous. President
Cleveland, in his message to Congress in 1885, expressed the
humiliation that every decent American feels on this subject. In
the language of Secretary of State Bayard, we are indignant '* at the
shocking wTongs inflicted upon j'our countrymen," and we are
mortified that *' such a blot should have been cast upon the records
of our government." It is true that the majority of the American
people do not deem it wise to open doors to Chinese laborers, but we
know that the Chinese government does not ask this. The question
at issue relates solely to Chinese of the better class.

Labor leaders declare that their unwillingness to have the
exclusion laws so modified as to admit Chinese who are not laborers
is that so many coolies gain fraudulent entrance on pretence of being
merchants or students. I submit, Mr. Chairman, that the number
of coolies who can successfull}- evade a rigorously enforced law is
insignificant. I honor our great labor leaders, but they do not put
the cause of labor in a dignified position when, for the sake of
excluding a comparative handful of Chinese coolies, they ask the
American people to continue a policy that belies our historical
attitude toward the nations of the earth, that cripples our trade, that
destroyed our opportunity to educate the young men of China, that
arouses the just resentment of a great people, and that is glaringly
inconsistent with justice, with honor and with " the square deal " on
which we are wont to pride ourselves.

1906.] Address of the Rev. Arthur Judson Brown, D.D. 437

We rejoice that the President of the United States has given
the weight of his great influence to the movement for decent
treatment of the Chinese immigrant. In his recent message to
Congress he said: "In the effort to carry out the policy of
excluding Chinese laborers, grave injustice and wrong have been
done by this nation to the people of China, and therefore ultimately
to this nation itself. Chinese students, business and professional
men of all kinds, not only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufac-
turers, professors, travellers and the like should be encouraged to
come here and treated on precisely the same footing that we treat
students, business men, travellers and the like of other nations.
Our laws and treaties should be framed, not so as to put these
people in the excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all
Chinese, except Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled or
unskilled laborers." Congress should know that this is the senti-
ment of the overwhelming majority of fair-minded people. Mean-
time incoming Chinese will get better treatment under the existing
law, for President Roosevelt has the quality unconsciously described
by the Sunday-school scholar who was told to read the verse, ** Now
this Daniel had an excellent spirit in him." But Johnny did not see
very well and painfully read "Now this Daniel had an excellent
spine in him." That was a pretty fair paraphrase of the inspired
writer's meaning, and if there is any one dominant characteristic of
President Roosevelt it is a spine, instead of the cotton string that
runs up so many political backs.

We have thus candidly recognized the value of much that
China has given to the West and with equal candor have deplored
the injustice with which China has often been treated. But I
should be unw^orthy of the meaning and the dignity of this memor-
able occasion if I stopped here. No nation is perfect. Our's
certainly is not. Your Excellencies will doubtless see serious
defects in the United States. Some of them are painfully evident
to us, and we shall be grateful if your Excellencies will point out
others that may appear to you. In like manner we study other
nations, not as critics but as friends. It is not necessary for a
foreigner to point out wherein China is lacking, since this has
been done by a great Chinese, His Excellency Chang Chih-tung,
Viceroy of Hupeh and Hunan

The friends of China in America are profoundly interested in the
awakening consciousness of need as indicated by the changes that
are taking place in the Middle Kingdom. The substitution of
modern subjects for the literary examinations, the provision for
provincial colleges and schools, the abolition of cruel forms of
punishments, the reconstruction of t^e judicial system, the reorgan-
ization of the army and navy, the development of a vernacular
press, the extension of railway, telegraph and postal facilities, the
foreign education of Chinese youths, — these and other movements
that might be mentioned are of vast import not only to China but
to the world.

It is not surprising that such vital changes are stirring the
profoundest de^ps of the Celestial Empire. We are watching with
no small concern the immediate effect of this agitation upon
interests that are very dear to us. Reason tells us that a nation,

438 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

representino^ nearly one-third of the human race, cannot undergo
vital changes without more or less disturbance, the clash of action
and reaction, the" breaking up of venerable customs, and, in places,
the violence of excitable or lawless men. Your Excellencies will
appreciate the horror and grief with which we heard recently of
the murder of some of our devoted missionaries at Lien-chow. But
the survivors of that awful tragedy were the first to urge us not
to condemn the Chinese people for the brutality of a frenzied mob.
We shall not soon forget that His Excellency, the Chinese Minister
at Washington, not only wrote that his government had taken
"energetic steps to meet the situation," but that he sent his own
"heartfelt sympathy to the families and friends of the victims of
this terrible tragedy." We mourn for the innocent who were
sacrificed to blind rage, but we mourn not in the spirit of revenge,
and the Presbyterian Board, under whose care the missionaries
were, has voted that it will not consider indemnity for the lives
of the dead nor for any punitive purpose, but only for the property
that will have to be replaced. This is not because the Board does
not value the lives of its missionaries, but because it will not set
a price upon blood that is priceless and because the Board would
have the Chinese see that the missionary gives his life, not for
money, but for China and for God. We are concerned for devoted
missionaries still at their posts, yet when we look at the question in
its larger relations, we cannot fail to see that the real meaning of the
present agitation is that China has awaked. Aye, a new China is
emerging.

•* The rudiments of empire here

Are plastic yet and warm ;
The chaos of a mighty world

Is rounding into form."

So we are not dismayed. Rather are we more hopeful than
ever. The stirrings of life are better than the lethargy of death,
appalling though some of its first manifestations are. We believe,
with His Excellency the Chinese Minister to the United States, that
"China is determined to get in touch with the modern world, to
catch step with the march of progress intellectually, materially and
spiritually."* And the Christian friends of China in America would
help, not hinder.

And now the coming of your Excellencies as High Commis-
sioners of His Imperial Majesty shows that the government and the
most thoughtful men in the Empire are great enough to inquire
whether America has anything to suggest at this critical hour when
a vast nation is earnestly seeking higher truths. In this they are
but following the advice of Confucius who said : " To be fond of
learning is the next thing to knowledge. To be up and doing
comes near to perfection. Know what shame is, and you will not
be far from heroism. ... If these principles can be carried out,
although one may be stupid, yet he will become clever ; although
weak, he will attain strength."

We venture to believe that as China has taught America some
things, so America can teach China other things. These do not

* Washington Postt January 13th, 1906.

1906.] Address of the Rev. Arthur Judson Brown, D.D. 439

relate solely to mechanical inventions or political institutions.
Railways, telegraphs, steam and electrical machinery, popular
suffrage, representative assemblies, — these are indeed important.
But America has something more than these to suggest. The
greatness of a State depends upon the moral character of its citizens,
and there is no moral quality in a steamboat or a ballot box.
A merely material civilization is always and everywhere a curse
rather than a blessing. From the Garden of Eden down, the fall of
man has resulted from what George Adam Smith calls ' * the increase
of knowledge and of power unaccompanied by reverence. . . . No
evolution is stable which neglects the moral factor or seeks to shake
itself free from the eternal duties of obedience and of faith. . . . The
Song of Lamech echoes from a remote antiquity the savage truth
that ' the first results of civilization are to equip hatred and render
revenge more deadly. ... a savage exultation in the fresh power
of vengeance which all the novel instruments have placed in their
inventor's hands.' "

Legislation cannot add the desired quality. Laws deal only
with external acts and relations ; they do not make bad men good.
In the language of Herbert Spencer, ** there is no political alchemy
by which you can get golden conduct out of leaden motives." As
for secular education, Macaulay trul}' says that nine-tenths of the
evils that afflict the human race come from a union of high intel-
ligence and low desires. Greek and Roman culture were at their
highest point of development when the ancient world was literally
rotten with vice. The student of the Renaissance knows that Italy
was never worse morally than in the period famous for its revival
of classic learning. " Under the thin mask of humane refinement,"
says the historian Symonds, " leered the untamed savage ; and an
age that boasted not unreasonably of its mental progress, was at
the same time notorious for the vices that disgrace mankind." Some
of the worst men in our Republic are college graduates, some ot
the most dangerous men, those whose great intellectual equipment
can be hired to bolster up trickery and fraud. Knowledge is power,
but it depends upon the principle that controls it whether it is a
power for^ood or a powder for evil.

The supreme thing for the individual, and therefore for
the nation which is the aggregate individual, is the knowledge
of God. That knowledge America desires to communicate to
China. We take no credit to ourselves for having it. We did
not discover it. Our ancestors were simply so placed that
during those centuries when the lack of intercommunication
separated China and the West by an impassable gulf, the white man
heard that God had revealed Himself to sinful man as a personal
Being, holy, just, wise — a Creator, a Sovereign, a Father ; that He
had caused His message to be written in a Book, and that He had
sent His only begotten Son into the world to incarnate the divine

sympathy, to show the ideal life and to make ** propitiation

for the sins of the whole world. " We have found that this faith
and its necessary corollaries transform the human heart, purify
society, exalt woman and develop all that is noblest in man. We
are sure that your Excellencies will agree with us that if men
anywhere in the world acquire knowledge that is essential to the

440 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

welfare of their fellowmen, they are bound to convey that knowl-
edge to them. It matters not where those fellowmen are. or to
what race they belong, or whether they are conscious of their
need, or how much toil or cost may be involved in reaching
them. The man who has that which the world needs is debtor to
the world.

We freely admit that in the course of nearly 2,000 years, the
manifestations of this faith have taken on some of the characteristics
of the white races, and that missionaries, inheriting these character-
istics have more or less unconsciously identified them with the
essentials. Perhaps this is one reason that Christianity is so often
called by the Chinese "the foreigner's religion," a saying that
indicates an entire misconception of its real character. We preach
not Western ideas or American customs, but Christ. We do not
desire to impose on China those features of Christianity that are
purely racial, nor do we wish to perpetuate in the Far East the
sectarian divisions of the W^est. Why should the American Civil
War divide Chinese Christians into Presbyterians North and Pres-
byterians South ? Why should the rising Chinese church be
compelled to accept a form of doctrinal statement that is distinct-
ively Anglo-Saxon? Let the Chinese accept Christ for themselves
and develop for themselves the methods and institutions that re-
sult from His teaching. He was neither an American nor a Euro-
pean, but an Asiatic. The Bible is an Asiatic book from cover
to cover. Christianity was first preached to, and is primarily
adapted to, the peoples of Asia. Americans therefore have no
prescriptive right to it, and not in au}^ spirit of fancied superiority,
but only in the spirit of true brotherhood and deep obligation would
they give back to Asia the faith that they themselves first received
from it. That faith never injured or denationalized any one. It simply
made him a better man — more honest, more intelligent, more charitable,
more loyal to his own country. After the Boxer outbreak, the Chinese
government made a large grant for indemnity for the lives of the
Chinese Christians who had been murdered. How much it meant
to the poor survivors will be understood from the fact that the share
for the Christians in one county in our Peking field was 10,000
taels. But in all the mission not a single Chinese family would
accept the indemnity. They did take compensation for the pro-
perty that they had lost, but they gave one-tenth of that to support
several Chinese evangelists to preach the Gospel to their former
persecutors. And now those Chinese Christians are actually rais-
ing a fund to pay back to the government the indemnity that they
did receive. What a magnificent illustration of the unselfish spirit
of the Chinese Christian, of the genuineness of his faith, and of his
loyalty to the Emperor !

We earnestly hope that an increasing number of Chinese will
consider Christianity from this essential, non-racial viewpoint.
Your Excellencies will remember that 3,000 years ago it was
written in one of your own classics, the Chow Ceremonial: *'A
man is to be despised who deliberately throws aside precious
materials." ....

It is sometimes said that we should convert America before
trying to convert other nations. We are trying to convert America,

1906.] Address of the Rev. Arthur Judson Brown, D.D. 441

and on a far larger scale than China. But Christianity demands of
the individual man repentance, self-denial, righteousness. Shall we
refuse to China the truth that is as rightfully hers as ours because
some Americans will not repent, or deny themselves, or be right-
eous ? Suppose Christ had told His disciples not to give the Gospel
to Europe until they had converted Palestine ? Suppose a business
man should decline to sell goods outside of his own city until all
its inhabitants used them ? The fact is that some things, as soon as
they are discovered anywhere, belong to the world. If Jehovah is
the God of the whole earth, the whole earth ought to know Him.
If Christ is " good tidings of great joy .... to all people," what
right have we to withhold Him from "all people?" Indeed
America could no more keep Christianity to itself than it could keep
the telegraph or than the Chinese could keep the art of printing.
Christianity, like the sunshine, is for all. The moment you shut it
up, it ceases to be sunshine and becomes darkness.

Surely, Mr. Chairman, a word should be spoken in this presence
regarding the men and women who represent us as missionaries in
China. We gladly identify ourselves with them. With perhaps a
few individual exceptions, this entire magnificent assemblage is
composed of those who believe in and support them. It is a mistake
to suppose that missionaries are inferior men. No other class of
workers in the world is more carefully selected. The Boards make
diligent inquiry not only as to piety and health but as to ability,
scholarship and that most uncommon of qualities common sense.
I personally know a large number of these missionaries. I have
seen their work. I probably know them quite as well as any critic.
And I testify that the American missionaries in China are a
magnificent bod^^ of men and women, excelling in intelligence, in
devotion, and in self-sacrificing service to God and to man. If
critics know of unworthy ones, let them present names and specifi-
cations. The Board concerned will promptly investigate and will
take such decisive action as the facts may justify

[After referring to the self-denial of the typical missionary and the
beneficence of his work, Dr. Brown quotes the testimony of the Hon. Charles
Denby, the Hon. E. H. Conger, T. E. Viceroy Li Hung-chang and Viceroy
Yuan Shih-kai, and mentions the Imperial contribution to the Missionary
Medical College in Peking, closing with the following words :— ]

As the shadows fell one evening, I stood beside the grave of
Confucius and with uncovered head mused on the life of the mighty
sage. I reflected with awe that he had moulded the thoughts of
uncounted myriads for two and a half millenniums, that all over
China were the evidences of his pow^r — his temples rising on every
hand, his ancestral tablets in every house, his writings studied by
every man. I remembered that when, centuries ago, a jealous
Emperor burned the Confucian books, patient scholars reproduced
them from memory. I recalled the Chinese schools I had visited in
which, as for more than 2,000 years past, the boys of the most
numerous people in the w^orld have committed to memory the
Confucian primer which declares that * ' affection between father and
son, concord between husband and wife, kindness on the part of the
elder brother and deference on the part of the younger, order

442 The Chinese Recordei. [August,

between seniors and juniors, sincerity between friends and associates,
respect on the part of the ruler and loyalty on that of the minister, —
these are the ten righteous courses equally binding on all men." I
felt, do you not feel with me, that these are noble principles, that
their influence has been beneficial in many respects, lifting the
Chinese above the level of many other Asiatic nations, creating a
more stable social order, inculcating respect for parents and rulers,
and so honouring the mother that woman has a higher position in
China than in most other non-Christian lands.

Suddenly, in the deepening twilight, the thought came. What
if Christ and Co-nfucius could have met ! Would there not have
been points of sympathetic contact ? Confucius spoke of the ideal
life. Did not Christ exemplify it ? He exhorted to filial piety.
Was it ever more beautifully illustrated than in Him who, though
equal with God, was reverently subject imto His parents? Con-
fucius declared that "the five regular constituents of our moral
nature are benevolence, rigljteousness, propriety, knowledge and
truth." Was not Christ the incarnation of all these ? Confucius
frankly admitted that he was ignorant of the future. When
a disciple asked him about it, he sadly replied, " Imperfectly
acquainted with life, how can we know death?" Would he
not have hailed One who did know death and who could answer
those mighty questions which lie deep in the heart of every
thoughtful man irrespective of age or country ? Confucius never
claimed to be a god. If he could have seen that majestic
incarnation of Deity, Jesus Christ, would he not have said with
awe and yet with joy : " This is He for whom I have greatly
longed ; hear ye Him."

As I thought of these things that night, I could not sleep, and
before the dawn I rose and sought the temple which marks the
birthplace of Confucius. As the first signs of morning appeared,
I climbed to the upper floor of the great library and looked upon
the noble temple near by and then down upon the many ancient
buildings, the darkly solemn pines, the monuments resting on
ponderous stone turtles and the group of Chinese standing among
the shadows with faces turned curiously upward. Then the sun
rose majestically above the horizon and threw splendid floods of
light upon the scene. In the glory of that sunshine, the gilded
roof of the temple of Confucius was irradiated and every hitherto
dark place of the vast temple area was filled with light and
beauty.

Fit symbol this of the ardent desire of the friends of China !
All that is true, all that is noble, all that is of permanent value
would not be destroyed, but would be made truer, nobler, more
permanent by Christ. Already the faces of a host of Chinese are
turning towards the sun which is reddening the mountain-tops. It
cannot be long now before the shining hosts of God shall pour
down the mountain-sides and chase on noiseless feet and across
wide plains the swiftly retreating night, "until the day dawn and
the shadows flee away."

Your Excellencies, in the spirit of this faith and in the glory
of this hope for your native land, the Christian friends of China
bid you welcome and God-speed !

1906.]

Church Praise Department.

443

Church Praise Department.

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1906.] Educational Department. 445

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

An Appeal from the Committee of the Friends
Foreign Mission.

THE last number of the Recorder contained an interesting
appeal issued by the Committee of Missionaries of the
Friends Foreign Mission at Chentu in May, 1906.
All missionaries will sympathize with the spirit which inspires
the appeal, for all are working for and looking forward to the
reign of peace on earth.

The appeal, however, seems to overlook several important
considerations. The introduction of military drill into mission
schools is not for the purpose of increasing or fostering the
spirit of militarism. It has as its intention the inculcating of
certain virtues which from a pedagogic point of view cannot be
taught so well in any other way. Briefly these are obedience,
exactness, unity, cooperation, promptness and order.

In Western lands the military organization has proved
of great value in connection with Christian work. As evidence
of this we may point to the Boys' Brigade, the Knights of
Temperance, the Salvation Army and the Church Army.

The appeal, however, is based upon the assumption that
*'all war is contrary to the Spirit of Christ,'' and so condemns
everything that may seem to have a martial aspect. This raises
a mooted question, and one upon which a difference of opinion
has always existed. The majority of Christians believe that
a war may rightly be waged in defence of a nation's honor
and for protection against unlawful aggression.

The present weak condition *of China is a danger to the
peace of the world. Until she is able to maintain her rights,
stronger nations will seek to prey upon her, and may be-
come involved in war wnth one another as a consequence
of each seeking the richest part of the spoils for itself.

If, as an indirect result of the military training students
receive in missionary schools, they are enabled, when the hour

446 The Chinese Recorder. [August,

of peril to their country arrives, to aid in protecting it, we
believe that we will have helped in promoting the peace of the
world. F. L. H. p.

Permanent Secretary.

WE are glad to be able to announce that there is a
reasonable prospect of the Educational Association
securing the services of a permanent secretary.

The offer of this position has been made to the Rev. S.
Couling, of the English Baptist Mission, and he has expressed
his willingness to accept it, provided the matter of his support
can be arranged. An urgent appeal has been sent home to his
Board, asking that Mr. Couling be loaned to our Association
for this important work, and that his support be assured by
them until such time as our Association is in a position to
undertake it.

As outlined at the last Triennial Conference the work
of the permanent secretary will consist in editing educational
magazines, both in English and Chinese, in overseeing a
translation department, and in conducting the business interests
of the Association.

Mr. Couling is eminently well qualified for this work,
and has had the practical experience which will enable him to
know the needs of those engaged in educational work.

x\t a time like this when China is about to take up the
question of education in earnest, it is most important that we
should have a man who can devote his whole time and energy
to furthering the work of Christian education in China.

We sincerely hope that the way will be made clear for Mr.
Couling to enter upon his duties early in 1907. F. h. h. p.

Christian Education: A Great Opportunity.

BY REV. E. W. BURT.

IT is much to be feared the writer is about to become
another melancholy instance of the commonly observed
fact that fools rush in where angels fear to tread. For
he has no pretence whatever to the title of educationist,
having spent twelve of his fourteen years' life in China in
itinerant preaching work, and only having been called, much

1906.] Educational Department. 447

against his will, during the past two years to attempt teaching
work. Therefore he would strive to speak with all due
modesty in the presence of his betters, and no doubt they
will take all he says " with a aim grano sails ^^^ as one worthy
brother once remarked.

The immediate inspiration of what he now sets down
on paper is the admirable series of articles recently contributed
to your pages from the pen of Rev. Arnold Foster, and more
particularly the concluding article in the May number (pp.
258-265), though the ideas have been simmering in the writer's
mind for at least two years.

By the statesmanlike breadth and foresight of those
articles, Mr. Foster has put all your readers in his debt, and
it would be a thousand pities if the fruitful suggestion he throws
out were allowed to fall to the ground without further notice.
If the present writer can do nothing else, he hopes at least to
keep the ball rolling.

Mr. Foster advocates that over and above all secondary
schools and colleges such as now exist, we should seek to
establish " one or more centres of learning, and to begin
with we must rigidly confine our efforts to one, which shall
hold a unique position and exercise a unique influence in all
smaller seats of learning, such as colleges and schools scattered
throughout the eighteen provinces, as well as on Chinese ideas
and plans of education."

With this noble ideal all thoughtful friends of the cause
of higher Christian education in China will find themselves
in full and hearty accord. In principle we all agree ; in the
practical working out of details, there will be difference of
opinion. But all open-minded men, of whatever school or
shade of opinion, wnll welcome Mr. Foster's bold and
courageous plan, even though there may appear small chance for
his dream taking concrete form here and now. As one enthusi-
astic teacher exclaimed after reading the article: — "Not one
or two only, but a dozen such universities are needed in
a vast empire like China." And he ventured to prophesy
that within a decade or so we should see a score of such
institutions. It is unnecessary to remark in passing that the
friend who uttered this remark hails from that great land,
where universities spring up like magic at the beck of benevol-
ent millionaires, and where they are probably already numbered
by the hundred. But others of us who come from an older

448 The Chinese Recorder. f August,

and a slower world would underline the wise words of Mr.
Foster quoted above — ''^ to begm with we must co7tfine our
efforts to one^ etc.''"' For we feel sure that if we are to
achieve anything worthy and lasting, '■''festtna lente'''' is the
right watchword. We remember '* Oxford and Cambridge
have not come to their present position in a generation, in a
century, or even in five centuries, and we shall not any of us
live to see the full results of any effort we may make now
to assure to Christian learning its true place in China, but
by faith we shall be assured of them if we are first fully
assured in our own minds that we are moving in obedience
to our Master's will." To us of this generation is given the
great task of laying well the foiuidations of a truly Imperial
system of Christian education^ and it will be better to
concentrate our energies on the best, rather than to fritter them
away on the second-best.

As to whether the time has now come for founding such a
seat of learning and as to whether Wuchang is the best centre,
it would be hard to say without gathering a wide consensus of
opinion and going into more detail than space will here allow.

To my mind the plan is perfectly feasible, and moreover it
seems to me Mr. Foster has made out a strong case for Wu-
chang in showing, as he does, that the nucleus already exists in
the schools and colleges of the various Missions now congregated
there. It only needs to develop this happy, natural beginning
a little further ; to elect a general governing and examining
body ; to agree on a common university standard, leaving, as
suggested, to the component colleges (which commonwealth in
its corporate capacity is the university) the widest possible
liberty to develops each along the Ihte of its special individual
genius.

In all great schemes there is sure to be a lion in the way,
and here, in my opinion, the lion is not the denominational
factor, but the real and undeniable differences between the
American and English systems of university education. There
is not an ounce of denominationalism in my constitution, nor in
that of most of my contemporaries. I would gladly see ' ' the
blue banner of Presbyterianism, the red flag of Methodism,'*
etc. , furled up once for all, never to be trotted out again.

But after a fairly close first hand acquaintance with
American methods, and some experience of the Oxford and
London methods, the writer feels bound to confess that he is

1906.] Educational Department. 449

not vet converted to the American plan. Of course it has many
excellences and produces able men, as a single glance at the
leading educationists in China to-day will suffice to show.
And it may be that I am a hardened sinner who may yet find
myself sitting on the penitence stool. But such contingences
are hid in the womb of the future. Meantime I prefer the
system under which I was brought up, as Americans naturally
prefer that under which they were trained.

Here, however, emerges a practical consideration of some
importance, viz., it is the American system zvhich holds the
field at present in Chi^ia. In June Recorder (p. 327) the
significant fact is stated that, of the fourteen Christian colleges
existing in China at this moment, no less than twelve are
colleges founded and conducted by Americans. All honour to
these pioneers in education — your Martins and Mateers, your
Sheffields and Hawks Potts — men who have done their work in
many cases in spite of the Home Boards and with little support
from their brethren on the field.

Now facts are facts and should be faced. If an international
seat of learning be established, it is perfectly evident the educa-
tion given must approximate to the American type rather than
to the English. " Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.*'
While English missions slept, their more wide-awake cousins
went ahead, until the game is now practically in their hands.

In this connection it has always surprised and puzzled me
that a great Mission like the London Mission, which was the
first to come to China and which has given a grand succession
of scholars to the work, such as Morrison, Legge, Chalmers
and Edkins, should yet have done comparatively little for the
cause of higher education in China. It is true Mr. Foster
mentions a high school in Hankow and a college in Tientsin,
but what is this for a mission with a hundred years' record
behind it? I venture to hope that, in the new century on
which we are entering, this Mission will regain the position of
leadership which of right belongs^ to it. Is the L. M. S. not
the doyen of the Missionary Body in China, just as my own
Mission (B. M. S.) holds the same proud position in India? I
know not what plans are on foot to commemorate the coming of
Robert Morrison one hundred years ago, but I can conceive noth-
ing of which that great man's spirit would more certainly ap-
prove than the ej^ort to create the germ of a Christian university at
Wuchang or other suitable centre. If the L,. M. S. will only give a

4 so The Chinese Recorder. [August,

strong lead in this inalter I feel sure the rest of us (we ^^ parvenus "
so to speak) will loyally do our utmost to support them.

I am not sure but that by reason of the things hinted at
above, the scheme might be more likely of success if confined
to a union of English missions, leaving the Americans to follow
their own bent (which they would not be slow to do) at other
centres. This would give China the advantage of both systems
at once and enable her eventually to choose or reject, mould or
combine, as taught by experience.

It is perhaps not impossible, but is at least an exceedingly
difficult task to amalgamate the two systems in one institution,
and it is an open question whether the game is worth the candle,
or in other words whether each side is not asked to give up valu-
able elements for a colourless and doubtful gain. Here at Wei-
hsien this is being tried, but it has not yet got beyond the experi-
mental stage, and it is premature to prophesy the ultimate issue.

But I have trespassed too long on your patience. I would
only bespeak a calm and dispassionate consideration of this
great proposal, propounded by Arnold Foster. And in closing
1 would like to emphasize another of his weighty remarks: —
* ' I trust that more than one of the colleges that I hope to see
commencing work in Wuchang will from the first realise a call
to give far more attention to Chinese, and the teaching in
Chinese, than to English or any other European language. It
is to the Chinese scholars we are sent for the uplifting of the
Chinese people through those who are to do their life's work
as Chinamen among Chinamen in the language of China. It is
my firm conviction that a time is coming when Christian
colleges will be among the most conservative influences in
China in the maintenance of all that is good in the old
education of the country, as they will also be centres of the
truest loyalty and patriotism. ' *

It must have taken some courage to write this passage
when the trend of current opinion is all in the contrary
direction, and, agreeing with it as I do with all my heart and
soul, I make no apology for quoting it at length.

But for a mere ' ' man in the street, ' ' who is * ' but a child
in these matters,'' I have exceeded all decent bounds, and end
with the immortal Dogberry's plea : — *' But, masters, remember
that I am an ass ; though it be not written down, yet forget not
that I am an ass."

Wkihsien, Shantung, 20th June, 1906.

1906.]

Correspondence.

451

Correspondence.

CONFERENCES BEFORE THE
CONFERENCE.

To the Editor of

**The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : The Executive Com-
mittee of the Tientsin Missionary
Association is making plans for
the next season's meetings.
While these plans are not yet
perfected, the idea on which
they are based, may prove of
value to others. It is the result
of a suggestion made by the
President of the Association, Dr.
S. Lavington Hart. The plan
is to discuss, at successive
monthly meetings, different topics
that are to be on the program
of the Centenary Conference,
securing as leaders, so far as
possible, members of the special
committees already announced.
As the membership of these
committees is well distributed,
it will be possible at almost every
centre to find a few within easy
reach. One of our leaders, in
accepting the invitation, writes :
"Your plan for an early and
general discussion of several
such themes seems to me a very
happy thought, and might well
be followed throughout the mis-
sionary body in China."

Yours truly,

Charles E. Ewing,

Secretary,
Tientsin Missionary Association.

WHAT BOOKS ON ROBERT
MORRISON ?

To the Editor of
''The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : Can you or j^our
readers tell me what is the best
and standard biography of Rob-

ert Morrison ? In view of the
centenary of his coming to
China, probably most of your
readers desire to refresh their
memories about the Father of
Protestant Missions to China,
and a little guidance as to the
best literature on the subject
might not be amiss. The worst
of it is that good men so often
suffer in their biographers.
Also I should like to know
whether there is any readable
life of Morrison in Chinese, and,
if so, where it may be procured ?
If there is no good life in Chi-
nese, will not some member of
his Mission, who has access to
the materials, at once set to
work to prepare a worthy me-
morial of this great missionary,
so that next year it may be in
the hands of all our Christians
who can read ? It may be this
labour of love and " filial piety '*
is already accomplished. Next
year at all our Chinese confer-
ences, etc., we shall want to
honour his memory and drive
home the lessons of his life, but
we cannot make bricks without
straw.

I am,

Yours truly,

E. W. Burt.

dr. Sheffield's explanation.
To the Editor of

«The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : I note in the July
number of the Recorder that
Dr. Mateer replies to a statement
reported to have been made by
me at the Conference on Federa-
tion held in Peking. I am made
to say in the Report: "Dr.
Mateer, much as he disliked it,

452

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

saw that Shang Ti was making
headway, and so gave tip his
vieivsy The closing clause to
which Dr. Mateer takes very
proper exception, was contributed
by the reporter in writing out
what was said from imperfect
notes. I could not have made
such a statement, as I know it is
not true. I was not quoting
from hearsay, but alluded to a
personal conversation with Dr.
Mateer some years ago. His
remarks were to the effect that
"The Term Question" might
ultimately settle itself by mere
force of numbers, but that the
mass of native converts were in
no way fitted to judge of the
merits of the question. With
this thought I then fully sym-
pathised and continue to sym-
pathise. Two years ago, when I
listened to the report of Dr.
Cochrane on this subject, it
seemed to me that by compromise
on the terms Shang Ti and Sheng
Ling union could be secured,
and I publicly stated that I
would support the movement to
attain this much to be desired
result. In this decision, not
lightly made, I have not given
up my views which, like Dr.
Mateer, I have long held. My
Mission at its last meeting voted
that we ask for the Scriptures to
be supplied to us in these terms.

Cordially yours,

D. Z. Sheffield.

AN ANTI-OPIUM APPEAL FROM
HOME.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : On the 30th of May,
1906, the following Resolution
was brought forward in the
House of Commons : —

' * That this House reaffirms
its conviction that the Indo-

China Opium Trade is morally
indefensible, and requests His
Majesty's Government to take
such steps as may be necessary
for bringing it to a speedy
close."

The Resolution was moved by
Mr. Theodore Taylor and se-
conded by Dr. V. Rutherford.

Mr. John Morley, the Secre-
tary of State for India, did not
oppose the Resolution. He ad-
mitted that from the moral
and philanthropic standpoint the
case against the Indo-China
opium trade was very strong, so
strong indeed that it required no
discussion from the medical side ;
the position assumed by Japan
as China's next door neighbour
and by the government of the
United States of America in its
legislation against opium in the
Philippines being amply sufficient
to show the * * pestilential evil of
the trade." On the other hand,
as an official he had to look
at the question of ways and
means, to consider the claims of
the native States in which
opium was grown, the claim also
of the cultivators in British
India, and not least the necessity
of dealing wisely with so serious
a proceeding as the withdrawal of
three millions sterling from the
Indian revenue. He stated very
plainly, however, that should
the Chinese government bring
forward any serious proposition
upon the subject of the opium
trade there would be no hesita-
tion on the part of His Majesty's
government in giving it the fair-
est consideration, even though it
should involve the sacrifice of
revenue.

When the speaker put the
Resolution to the House, it re-
ceived an enthusiastic "Aye,"
not a single **No" contesting
the unanimity with which the
Resolution was carried.

1906.J

Correspondence.

453

It is obvious that the carrying
of such a Resolution by the
unanimous vote of the House of
Commons (there were over 200
members present) has placed the
opium question on a new footing.

In the first place, as far as
China is concerned, it definitely
sets aside the findings of the Royal
Opium Commission of 1895. ^I^-
Morley .said that without in the
least criticising either the doings
or the findings of that Commis-
sion, it must be admitted that
its Report had brought no satis-
faction to the conscience of the
community. This statement had
the entire approval of the House,
and it may be taken for granted
that the Commission's Report is
relegated to the limbo of things
which may safely be ignored.

In the second place it encour-
ages the anti-opium workers in
this country to press to a practic-
al issue the admission by the
government that the trade is
morally indefensible. In the
present House of Commons there
is a larger number than ever
before of men who are in earnest
to find a solution for the prob-
lems associated with the trade,
and who may be counted upon
to lose no fair opportunity of ur-
ging the government to devise
such measures as may lead to
the entire stoppage of the Indian
opium export.

And once more the spontane-
ous declaration by the Secretary
of State that if China is ready to
bring forward any serious pro-
posal on the subject he will be
prepared to give it the most
favourable consideration, even
though it should involve finan-
cial sacrifice, is practically an
invitation to China to bestir
herself and to renew her claim
for the stoppage of the trade.
It is especially in connexion with
this last consideration that as

Chairman of the Representative
Board of the Anti-Opium Com-
mittees I have been invited to
write to you and to respectfully
ask if you would place before
the readers of the Missionary
Recorder some of the ways in
which we think they may materi-
ally help us.

First, it seems to be of the
utmost moment that the terms of
the Resolution as accepted unani-
mously by the House of Com-
mons, and also the offer of
Mr. Morley to meet any well-
considtred proposal from the
Chinese government, should be
communicated far and near
throughout China. The Chinese
Christian congregations might
well have it deliberately put
before them with a view not
only to secure their prayers for
the further progress of the move-
ment but also that they may
speak of it freely to the Chinese
everywhere.

The local Chinese papers should
be encouraged and pressed not
only to make it known in their
pages but to comment on it with
a view to the creation of such
a national feeling on the subject
as would influence the rulers
of China. And considering the
much greater freedom of inter-
course between foreigners, in-
cluding missionaries and the
Chinese authorities, it should
not be difficult in one way or
another to bring to the knowl-
edge of these authorities the
altered position of the opium
question.

Further, it seems to us that
the missionaries themselves, es-
pecially in such great centres
as Peking, Tientsin, Hankow,
Nanking, Soochow, Canton, etc.,
might combine to consider to-
gether whether any other steps
might be taken at this crisis
to enforce the. views they have

454

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

again and again put forward
in the past. Everything that
will bring out the solidarity of
the missionary testimony ; every-
thing that will show the interest
of rich and poor amongst the
Chinese on the right side of this
question ; whatever may make
manifest the desire of any num-
ber of them to shake off from
their country the incubus of the
opium evil ; new facts and illus-
trations of any kind bearing on
the extent and greatness of the
opium curse, — all will help us in
pushing forward the question
here.

And in view of the Missionary
Conference to be held next May
in Shanghai we would suggest
that this subject should once
more have a prominent place

in its discussions, and that a
Resolution from the Conference
should be sent to all the church-
es of this country, and possibly
to the government itself.

And while we seek that in
these various ways you should
help the workers in England,
we do also very earnestly seek
your prayers that God would
hasten His mercy to China, India
and England alike in this matter.

I am,

Yours truly,

James L. Maxwei^l, m.d.,

Chairman of the Representative
Board of the Anti-opium Cotn-
fnittees of Great Britain and
Ireland.

31 Hammelton Road, Bromley,
Kent, June 13th, 1906.

Our Book Table.

REVIEWS BY J. D.

Natural and Apologetic Theology ;
or, the Fundamental Evidences oif
Christianity. By Rev. H. C. DuBose,
D.D. C. T. S. Price I0.30.

** The Fundamental Evidences
of Christianity." What a mag-
nificent name for a book ! Could
any man have a greater ambition
than to write a worthy book on
such a subject ? That there is
a peculiar need at this time for
a treatise on *' Natural and
Apologetic Theology" we are
all painfully aware. The trend
of thought amongst educated
Chinese is closely analogous to
the views held by cultured
Englishmen during the dark days
in the history of the Church
before the advent of Bishop
Butler and the famous Paley.
Then " it had come to be taken
for granted by many persons
that Christianity is not so much

as a subject of inquiry, but that
it is now at length discovered to
be fictitious. And accordingly
they treat it as if, in the present
age, this w^ere an agreed point
among all people of discernment ;
and nothing remained but to set
it up as a principal subject of
mirth and ridicule, as it were,
by way of reprisals for its having
so long interrupted the pleasures
of the world." This state of
feeling in England was prolong-
ed and aggravated by the writ-
ings of a number of able sceptics
who attacked Christianity from
various points and in different
ways. The analogous literary
assault on Christianity in China
is too obvious to require to be
pointed out.

That no better man could have
been found to undertake this
important work than Dr. DuBose
will be readily conceded by all

1906.]

Our Book Table.

455

who have the slightest acquaint-
ance with the author of this
book or with his writings. The
list of those given on the title-
page of this volume amazes and
shames us who are less versatile
and industrious. That a busy
city pastor should also be the
author of such a considerable
library of Chinese books is a fact
of which his Church and Presby-
tery may well be proud.

A glance through the table of
contents shows that the book is
massive, comprehensive, exhaust-
ive. All the sciences and 'ologies
seem to have been captured and
harnessed to the Gospel chariot.
History and Prophecy are called
as the two witnesses who testify
to God's faithfulness. It is the
custom of some authors to
preface their books with a list
of the authorities consulted ; had
Dr. DuBose followed this custom
it would have required almost
another volume to put all the
names on record.

The work is in three parts —
Natural Religion, Comparative
Religion, and Christian Evid-
ences. Than Dr. DuBose there
is probably no man in China
better able to expound the sub-
jects handled in the first and last
parts ; there is certainly no man
who approaches him in intimate
knowledge of the * * Three Reli-
gions," the subject of Part II.
I remember a Chinese, who
reckoned himself "far ben" in
the mysteries of secret vegetarian
societies, coming to me with one
of the earlier books written by
Dr. DuBose. He pointed to a
certain BuddhivSt prayer and
said : ' * How did the pastor get
to know this ? I passed several
years of novitiate and spent a
considerable sum of money be-
fore I was taught that prayer.
Where did the foreign pastor
learn it ? "

The style of the book is easy
W^n-li. It is safe to predict
that before long "The Funda-
mental Evidences of Christian-
ity ' ' will be reckoned an
indispensable part of the outfit of
every native preacher in China.

The International Red Cross Society
of Shanghai. Report, 1904-6.

This is a handsome book in
English and Chinese and tells an
intensely interesting story of the
good work done by the China
Branch of the International Red
Cross Society.

The date of the inauguration
of this Society ought to be noted
as a red letter day in the history
of China. For milleniums the
Chinese have made war and the
nation has many times equipped
and maintained enormous armies,
but an ambulance corps was
never reckoned a necessary part
of the army's equipment. Per-
haps much of the aversion of the
Chinese peasant to soldiering may
be due to this fact.

The Shanghai Branch of the
International Red Cross Society
owes its initiation to his Excel-
lency Shen Tun-ho. Oppressed
with anxiety for the woes of his
countrymen, whose homes were
within the theatre of war
in Manchuria, this gentleman
sought advice and help from Dr.
Timothy Richard in devising
means to alleviate their distress.
This Society was formed as a
result of that consultation.

We have in the Report a very
pleasing picture of Chinese and
foreigners working strenuously
hand in hand in a good cause.
Those who have visions of a
yellow peril may note that the
Chinese contributed Tls. 500,000
(including Tls. 50,000 from the
Empress-Dowager) for the relief
of sufferers through the war.

456

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

Surel)^ this practical philanthropy,
all the more admirable because of
its spontaneity, should teach us
all to respect our Chinese fellow-
citizens for their readiness to
help those in distress.

The large donations given by
foreign business firms in Shang-
hai show that the " Hongs " still
live up to the old China tradi-
tion of princely generosity.

The missionaries in Manchu-
ria, who were the chief almoners
of the Society's funds, spared no
labour nor pains in distributing
the funds sent to them. Their
names are honourably mentioned
and their labours acknowledged
in the Report.

There is a Chinese translation
of the Report, but no translation
of the accounts. This is rather
a pity, but the Report is a highly
satisfactory document, and re-
flects great credit on the influ-
ential Committee under whose
auspices it is issued.

REVIEWS FOR THE E. A. C.

Ji i^r tf3 :^ l^t f 1- # #5 ^- Elementary
Treatise on Physics, Part 6. Heat.
By Wu Kuang-kien. The Commer-
cial Press. 70 cents.

The first edition of this book
was reviewed — not very favour-
ably— in the Recorder for No-
vember, 1904. A new edition
has been printed and the errors
pointed out in the former review
have been corrected. The book
is not immaculate yet. On the
title-page the initial *'S" in
"Shanghai" has dropped out.
On page 3 ^ tj should be f^ ^.

On page 27 we find the char-
acters fU ^ used for atom. This
is quite intelligible, but the com-
mon ^ Ij is better. H has the
earth J: radical and suggests
that the atom is a tiny speck of
dust and is thus misleading. On
page 77 the author uses j^ IjJ

but he goes back to ^ g before
the end of the book is reached.

Page 28 gives the melting
points of various substances.
The first two are alcohol and
ether. They are said to melt at
130°. It should be —130''. That
is, one hundred and thirty degrees
below zero. Gold is said to melt
at 1060". It should be 1260°.

The style is generally clear
and easy to be understood, but
there is a lack of perspicuity
sometimes. As for instance, on
page 15 we read, J[U — fflj g;

What is meant to be said is
that if a strip of iron one square
inch in cross section be fixed at
one end and a weight having a
pull of one ton be suspended
from the other the bar will be
elongated ^^_l^^ of its length.
The statement is clumsily word-
ed.

The book is clearly printed on
white paper with numerous illus-
trations and contains valuable
information on its subject —
Heat.

^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ W^ ^. ^. Elementary
Treatise on Physics. Part 7.
Static Electricity, Compiled by
Wu Kuang-kien. Commercial Press.
60 cents.

This is a fair sized book of
164 pages. It is printed on
white paper and the illustrations
are numerous and clear. The
subject is treated in a really com-
prehensive manner.

The author's terminology is
sometimes open to objection. In
the opening sentence of the book
we are told that though the
effects of electricity may be ob-
served, electricity itself cannot be
seen * ^ S *• Surely ^ If
would have been better. Then
we are told that electricity is
analogous to matter and energy.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

457

The term used for energy is fg.
But this character means ability
rather than energy. The old
term ^ is a very good synonym
for potential energy, and with the
addition of 0j we get J; ^, an
equally good term for kinetic
energy. What combination would
be used with jj^ ^o express the
same idea I do not know. The
assertion in this paragraph that
scientists regard the all-pervading
ether as being identical with elec-
tricity needs qualification.

On page ii this phrase occurs,

m w. ^ a ib 1^ i^i m. "This

is the most sensitive instrument,
etc." @ is the common term for
"sensitive," and it is much bet-
ber than g|.

Page 145 has the combination
^ ^ for " Magnetic storm."
This is not a happy translation
either ; it suggests the actual
movement of a ponderable sub-
stance — g![, which is something
very different from an electric
disturbance. Perhaps ^;^. ^
would describe a magnetic storm
as exactly as is at present possi-
ble.

It must be remembered that
in writing those scientific books
the translators are putting new
wine into very old bottles. The
Chinese language is so rigid that
felicitous translation of the
technical terms of such a book as
this is extremel}^ difficult. Only
through time as one translation
is built up on another and use
familiarises what now appears
uncouth can we hope to have a
satisfactory scientific termino-
logy. This book is one more con-
tribution to that desirable end.

Elementary Treatise on Physics. Part
8. Magnetism. Compiled by Wu
Kuaug-kieu. Commercial Press.
40 cents.

Uniform with the above.

J. D.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

A Service of Daily Prayer for Work-
ers in Mission Hospitals. Shanghai
Dialect. Compiled by Z.

Prospectus of Union Medical College,
Peking. 1906-07.

Hangchow, the "City of Heaven,"
with a brief historical sketch of
Soochow. By Frederick D. Cloud,
Vice-Consul U. S. A. Price I2.50.

We hope to notice this book at
length in next month's issue.

Macmillan & Co. , Ltd.

Practical Exercises In Chemistry. By
G. C. Donington, M.A., Senior
Science Master of Leeds Grammar
School. Price 2s. 6d.

A text-book which provides
clear directions for carrying out
the selected experiments, but
avoids any statement as to the
precise facts to be observed, and
leaves entirely to the student the
work of making deductions.
Well indexed.

Lessons in Science. A preliminary
course of Physics and Chemistry.
By R A. Gregory, F.R.A.S , Pro-
fessor of Astronomy, Queen's Col-
lege, London, and A. T. Simmons,
B Sc Associate of the Royal College
of Science, London. Price 3s. 6d.

A :Manual of Geometry. By W. D.
Eggar, M.A., Assistant Master at
Eton College. Price 3s. 6d.

Efi^lish Literature for Secondary
Schools : —

Shakespeare : Select Scenes and Pas-
sages from the English Historical
Plays. Edited by C. H Spence,
M A., Head of the Modern Side,
Clifton College. Price lod.

Kingsley's Andromeda. With the
Story of Perseus prefixed. Edited
ioi schools by George Yeld, M.A.,
Assistant Master at St. Peter's
School, York. Price is.

The Boy's Odyssey. By Walter Cop-
land Perry. Edited for schools with
introduction, etc., by T. S. Peppin,
M.A., Assistant Master at Clifton
College. Price is. 6d.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Cantos
HI. and IV. A Romaunt by Lord
Byron. Edited with notes and an
introduction by J. H. Fowler, M.A.,

458

The Chinese Recordei.

[August,

Assistant Master at Clifton College.
Price IS.

A Book of Golden Deeds. Price is.

Narratives from Macaulay. I. The
Trial of the Bishops. II. The Siege
of Londonderry. III. The Massacre
of Glencoe. Edited with introduc-

tion, notes, glossary, etc., by Fanny
Johnson, formerly Head Mistress of
Bolton High School. Price is.

Shakespeare: A Mid-Summer Night's
Dream. Kdited with introduction,
notes, glossary, etc. by P. T. Cres-
well, M.A. Price is.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 44
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the
work they are engaged on, so
that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C. L. S. List:—

S. D. Gordon's book on Power.
By Rev. D. MacGillivray. (Finish-
ed.)

Booker T. Washington's " Up
from Slavery." By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Guizot's Civilization. W. A.
Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the
Christian Religion. Dodge.

Shansi Imperial University
List :—

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomj^ By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

Systematic Theology. By Dr.
H. C. DuBose. (Very extensive.)

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the
Ivife of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters.

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Mandarin. Rev. C. H.
Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

"An Indian Princess." By
Mrs. Bertha S. Ohlinger.

Abridgment of Mateer's Arith-
metic. By Mrs. Mateer.

Catechism on St. John's Gos-
pel. By Mrs. DuBose.

Rev. Geo. L. Gelwicks writes
to say that he is working on a
Concordance of the Old Testa-
ment in collaboration with Rev.
C. H. Fenn on the New Testa-
ment.

NoTA Bene : Mr. MacGilli-
vray's Classified and Descriptive
Catalogue of Christian Literature
(1901) being all sold out, he
purposes bringing it up to date
for the 1907 Centenary Confer-
ence, including all distinctively
Christian books by all Societies.
Suggestions for improvement
and materials gratefully received
from recent authors and from
Societies ; more especially as the
new material has been lost in
the Whangpoo. He has also in
mind to publish a China Mission
Year -Book, commencing with
1906, to be issued at the begin-
ning of 1907, this to be the first
of a regularly appearing series of
Year -Books. Suggestions as to
what should be included in these
Year-Books are now solicited.

1906.

Editorial Comment.

459

Editorial Comment.

*' Are the sinologues of the

past to have no successors ? ' '

That will be
Xancjuage ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^

^^"^^- with some, as

they read the suggestions for
language study given in our
leading article this month.
A superficial reading of the
article will give the impres-
sion that the only purpose of
language study is to learn to
speak. It is doubtless true
that under the system sug-
gested, few will find time for
study of the written language ;
for the reason that the pressure
of work on all sides is such as
in most cases to forbid regular
study after the second year on
the field. But it may be that
old methods, which after all
produced very few learned
IV^n-li scholars^ produced those
few not through any superior-
ity of method, but for other
reasons. A glance over the
rolls of our Missionary So-
cieties for the first seventy
years shows that ' ' there were
giants in those days," — giants
of intellectual and spiritual
power, giants of faith. More-
over, they had not the opportu-
nities for individual work, and
for far-reaching influence that
press upon us now. They
had not the innumerable prob-
lems and complexities of an
expanding church. It was not
only possible, it was right
for them to spend a portion of
their time in the study which
is simply impossible for a

wide-awake missionary of to-
day. The only exceptions to
this sweeping statement are
the teachers and literary work-
ers ; and even they have such
varied labors that they may
never hope to become '' sino-
logues " of the type furnished
a generation ago.

Conversational
Bbilitis.

This being true, the basal
idea of the new method of
language study
is seen to be in
the main correct.
The missionary of to-day needs
above all to be able to speak
accurately, freely, and idiomat-
ically. Mr. Lyon makes a
strong point in referring to the
poor conversational ability of
the average foreigner, as being
due to his missing *'the neat
turns'* in the speech of the
Chinese. We make a certain
set phrase do duty in twenty
different connections, for which
the Chinese may have as many
different modes of expression ;
and they can only get from us
a faint impression of what we
suppose we are plainly convey-
ing. The study of synonyms,
in substantives ; of degree,
in adjectives (as, e. g., the
distinction between ^ ^ yt
and yt yc }^) ; of mode and
tense, in verbs, etc. ; and in
all, the acquirement of a wide
vocabulary, is of the highest
importance. A set of phrases
like ^o break in^ break out^
break tip^ break down^ break
<9^, break with^ may be mas-

460

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

tered (with difficulty) by a
foreigner learning English.
It is a gain if* he even knows
the phrases white uncertain of
their accurate usage. But it
is safe to say there are hundreds
of foreigners who are deaf to
the shades of meaning con-
veyed in similar turns of the
Chinese language, and perhaps
even smile pleasantly at some
supposed kindly remark which,
to the instructed ear, contains
a sharp thrust at his intelli-
gence or his disinterestedness !

By all means, then, let us

learn to speak the language

^, -r * * correctly.

Spoften ano Mtltten. ^^j^^ow-
ever, to suggest that an em-
phasis on this point, such as. is
needed to commend the new
system to those who have used
and will cling to the old, may
be misunderstood by those
newly arrived on the field. The
latter should understand that
this emphasis is not meant to
undervalue the study of the
written language, which must
ever be an essential part of the
missionary's equipment ; but
rather to render it of more
easy acquirement. Just here
is the most debatable ground
in the whole matter. We are
inclined to think that despite
the difference between the
spoken and written language,
a difference unparalleled in
Western lands, many will hold
that it is more scientific, be-
cause more natural, to study
the two together than first to
learn the spoken and then
acquire the written language.

We are believers in the value
of Romanization in its place ;
but for learning the language
its place should be entirely
subordinate and temporary.
* * *

The chief difficulty which
will be found in working by
lExvcvicnccs ^^^ suggested

has already been
adverted to ; namely, the im-
possibility in many — perhaps
most — cases of pursuing lan-
guage study for four years.
The demands of the work, the
furloughs of older missionaries,
the zeal of the learner, will
conspire to push him into
harness before his course is
finished. Probably the four
years' course or its equivalent
could be covered in two years,
if such a school as is suggested
were available. Unfortunate-
ly there are further difficulties
in the way of such a school than
those which are noted in the
plan proposed ; and in any case
but few could avail themselves
of it. It is certainly true that
older missionaries in a station
are too prone to turn the new
arrivals over to the tender
mercies of the unskilled Chi-
nese teachers, causing the loss
of months of time and the
acquisition of much knowledge
which, not being correct, must
with difficulty be unlearned.
We shall be glad to hear of
a careful testing of the sug-
gested methods and of their
results by those who, in the
ordinary circumstances of in-
terior station life, have to
guide new missionaries in the
study of Chinese.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

461

The whole subject is of such
importance that we are sorry
« ^. . it does not

articles on in the

XanguaseStuOB. p'/ogramme
of the Centennial Conference.
Much practical thinking on
this line might save months
of time for many men and
increase the ultimate efficiency
of many more. We are occa-
sionally asked as to the possi-
bility of some one editing for
publication the articles of
value which have appeared in
the Recorder in connection
with language study. We hope
at an early date to be able to
report more definitely as to the
prospect of this project being
carried out. In the meantime
we give a list of some helpful
articles which have appeared
in back volumes of the Re-
corder : —

Difficulties of Chinese language.
Vol. V. 115. Vol. VIII. 473.

English equivalents for sounds. V.
292. VI. 150, 222, 226. VII. 291,
443.

The mutes in Chinese language. VI.
414.

Mandarin colloquial syntax. IX. 194.

Beginning study of Chinese lan-
guage. XVII.' 253.

Works on study of Mandarin dialects.
VIII. 217.

A graphic method of repr. tones.
Rev. W. Stevenson. XXIII. 515.

How to learn the Chinese language.
Dr. C. Goodrich. XXIV. i.

Phonographic reproduction of Chi-
nese sounds. Rev. J. A. Silsby.
XXIV. 472.

Some thoughts on the study of Chi-
nese. Dr. O. F. Wisner. XXIV.
203, 260.

Curriculum of Chinese studies for the
use of young missionaries. Dr. W.
A. P. Martin. XXV. 365.

How to study the Chinese Language
so as to get a good working knowl-
edge of it. Dr. A, P. Parker.
XXIX. I.

To beginners in the studv of Mandarin
Chinese. C.S. Champiiess. XXXIII.
604.

In this connection we would

draw attention to the memor-

^. , ^^ ^ andum drawn

Cblnesc StuDg

^ up some time
at Ibomc. ^ i o-

ago by Sir

Walter C. Hillier, K.C.M.G.,
C.B., upon the work done
in the school of Chinese in
the London University. The
following extracts are of inter-
est as showing the evident
desire on the part of business
men to have some members of
their staff with a working
knowledge of Chinese, and
able to deal direct with Chinese
without the help of middle-
men : —

"As most of my students are occupied
in the city during business hours, it
says much for their zeal and industry
that they should be almost invariably
regular in thtir attendance, and keen
in attention and industry after a hard
day's work at their offices

It is advisable for young men

who are intending to spend their lives
in China to lay the foundation of a
knowledge of the language and to
cultivate a taste for it, before they
find themselves amidst surroundings
which are not conducive to study
unless a taste for it has already been
created. I venture to say more. I
am convinced, speaking quite imper-
sonally, that it is easier to learn the
elements of a language like Chinese
from a European who knows it and
knows how to teach it, than from a
Chinese who speaks no language but
his own, and has not the remotest idea
of the way to teach it to others."

During the last month

wonderful developments have

Z\)Z ©pUim taken place in

(Slucgtfon connection with

reviveD. the anti-opium

movement. Our readers will

be interested in Dr. Anderson's

462

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

article on p. 431, and in Dr.
Maxwell's letter in the cor-
respondence Columns. The
wording of the Resolution re-
ferred to is as follows : —

Resolved, That this House re-
affirms its conviction that the Indo-
Chinese opium trade is morally in-
defensible, and requests His Majesty's
government to take such steps as may
be necessary for bringing it to a
speedy close.

We are glad to learn the
significant fact that many
members of Parliament made
considerable sacrifices to be pre-
sent at the debate. The in-
terest evoked all over the
country makes us fain hope
that at last the British nation
has been aroused to a proper
sense of the disgrace involved
in the opium traffic.

* * *

Severat. causes have com-
bined to bring about this re-

causes of ^'^^j "^ "^'"^f '
l?evlv.at. Reading over the
speeches deliver-
ed in the House of Commons
we are interested to note the
frequent references to the
American Commission with
regard to opium in the Philip-
pines and to the Japanese
efforts for the extinction of the
opium curse in Formosa. In
a speech by the Secretary of
State for India (Mr. John
Morley) he mentions that the
American Commission had
explored

**all legislation on the subject of
opium in Japan, Java, China, and
elsewhere. They did not take the
medical evidence as conclusive. They
examined into the social efifects of
opium also. They began without a
single prepossession. They surveyed
the whole field. And what was the
conclusion of that commission ? Was
it ambiguous ? On the contrary, it was

most definite. So definite was it that
the United States Government, in
anticipation of their report — well
knowing what its effect would be —
passed a law that in the Philippine
Islands, after the year 1906. there was
to be no more opium. That Commis-
sion declared that the United States
so recognised the use of opium as
an evil, for which no financial gain
could compensate, that she would not
allow her citizens to encourage it even
passively."

We think that, in addition
to the help given by the
American Commission, another
factor was the constant stream
of anti-opium literature ; a
notable contribution being Mr.
Arnold Fosters able exposure
of the Royal Commission
Report on Opium, published
about eight years ago. Nor
should we forget the excellent
service rendered by many
workers, when home, in anti-
opium addresses. May we not
also hope that in the change
of thought of the day, ethical
considerations now bulk more
largely in the minds of the
legislators ?

* * ♦

We cannot shut our eyes to

the fact that the results of the

Ibatmful agitation have been

w*..f,f,^^ "ore than once
IDetblage. ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^.^^^

and incorrect statements. Mr.

Morley has been severely

handled at home in certain

circles with regard to what

has been called his " dilletante

fooling" with the question;

yet there is considerable truth

in what he says : —

" He seemed to hear a note of exag-
geration on both sides ; and he heard
the words ' philanthropists ' and ' fad-
dists ' on the one hand, and 'official-
minded * on the other bandied
about, each reproaching the other,
he thought, unreasonably. There

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

463

was such a tiling, and rightly, as
the oflScial mind. The official was
the man who carried out policy.
It was very well for them and for
people outside that House to frame
conceptions ; when they came to
apply those conceptions, they had to
meet difficulties, and of those difficul-
ties the official mind was naturally
the exponent. "

Mr. Morley's speech certain-
ly is official, but it is not
unsympathetic. It is refresh-
ing to have brought forward
in Parliament a subject which
has not been discussed in the
House for eleven years. And
we trust there will be abund-
ant evidence that moral ideas
are again in the ascendant.

With regard to what has
been done in China, we are

c*^^^ ♦«».^.. g^^^ to learn that

Steps taften f , t^
inCbina Executive

Committee of the
China Missionary Alliance
drafted a resolution to the
Secretary of State, expressing
satisfaction in the attitude ot
the Government at home and
hoping for definite legislation
in the matter. It was impos-
sible to consult all the members
of the Alliance, but in an
emergency like this, on a
subject on which we are all
at one, the Executive may be
trusted to act wisely.

In Dr. Maxwell's letter we
read of suggestions as to steps
to be taken to bring before the
Chinese authorities the altered
position of the opium question,
and we are glad to report that
a memorial by Protestant
missionaries is being prepared
in connection with the oflfer
held out by the Governor at
Soochow. We understand that

when Dr. DuBose attended
the Union Synod at Nanking,
IVIay 25th, the Governor gave
him a letter of introduction to
the Viceroy. This venerable
statesman, in a pleasant inter-
view of an hour, made a similar
statement to that of the Gov-
ernor : that if England would
stop the introduction, he would
guarantee that China would
stop the growth of opium. If
a Memorial on Opium were
prepared in proper form he
himself would send it to the
Throne. We trust that our
readers will do their best to
have the sheets sent them
signed and returned to Soochow.
* * *

There is every encourage-
ment for the favourable con-
-^ ^^, sideration of such

'nttit^.y^^ a Memorial, when
we call to mind
the many references in the
newspapers to the Chinese
attitude towards the opium
question. Quoting from Canton
news of the 29th June, we
read : —

For some time various officials in
the Empire have been exerting them-
selves to lessen the consumption of
opium. No doubt the strong attitude
of the Japanese and the Americans in
their new dependencies, has exerted
an influence on the Chinese. At any
rate there is no doubt about the move-
ment, nor the sincerity of many who
have espoused it.

Whilst an item from Foo-
chow, of the 5th July, con-
tains the following cheering
news : —

The students and business men of
this city are following in the footsteps
of their Shanghai friends in organising
an anti-opium society. They have
practically adopted the same rules and
regulations as the other societies and
are diligent in holding meetings *nd

464

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

agitating the cause. Many prouiiii-
eut men have had the courage to place
on the doors of their houses the notice
that they will no longer use the weed
nor will they hereafter offer it to their
friends.

* * *

As mentioned in our Editorial

Comment, on page 402 of last

TTK^ tr^^ issue, the report of
ubc Com* ^1. 1 f ^

, , . the banquet ten-

dered the Chinese
jSanquet. Commissioners by
the Boards of Foreign Missions
centering in New York, is of
special interest to the mission-
ary body. We regret that it
was not possible at an earlier
date to print the address deliv-
ered then by Rev. A. J. Brov/n,
D.D., but the report in this
issue, pp. 434-442, shows that
the statesmanlike utterances of
Dr. Brown are not mere social
pleasantries, but that such re-
marks as those referring to the
relation of the missionary to
his own or the Chinese govern-
ment are definitions that are
worthy of a careful perusal and
a permanent record. Some
recent native utterances on the
missionary problem indicate the
timeliness of the publication of
Dr. Brown's address.

* * *

During the course of the
past month the four Commis-
sioners, with their

Zbc Com*
mlssfoners'

suites, arrived from

Europe and pro-
•Return. ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^

report. We shall anxiously
await the results of their in-
vestigations. The earlier com-
missions sent out to the West
were not expected to have
great results. It has taken a
long time for China to learn
that she can learn from the

West. But the timeliness and
thoroughness of this last Com-
mission raise hopes for lasting
results. As we conjecture how
the many impressions received
will be developed and mentally
arranged we come upon the
following incident : —

" Would it be true to say" one of
the Commissioners was asked in Eng-
land, "that the Commission's journey
and the present awakening of China
so-called, is the result of a new-found
ambition incited b}' the wonderful
way in which Japan has come to the
front rank of nations?" "There are
many things admirable in Japan,"
said the Commissioner slowly, "but
it is not quite true that we have been
stirred by Japan to emulation. Our
object is reform and our motto is
' Reform ', but in bringing that about
we would prefer to copy for ourselves
an older country, such as England,
which Japan has herself copied, rather
than Japan."

The concluding paragraph
of the reply of Duke Tsai Tze
at the China Association's ban-
quet to the Commissioners may
interest our English readers
especially : —

"We have had an opportunity of
studying the constitution of your
country, and a visit to the Houses of
Parliament has enabled us to see the
machinery of government in motion.
In China at present there is no direct
way of gauging the opinions and wishes
of the people ; some day the means of
learning their opinions will come,
and some method for giving expres-
sion to their wishes will be evolved.
What shape all these will assume
future years alone can tell us ; but,
perhaps, in years to come, when
England sends out a special mission
of inquiry to China to collect useful
information, that mission may be
given seats in the distinguished Stran-
gers' Gallery in our new House of
Parliament and be able to judge
whether, as is sometimes the case, the
copy is an improvement on the
original. On that occasion I am sure
you will receive as warm a welcome
from the members of the England
Association in Peking as we have
received this evening from the China
Association in Irondon."

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

465

In our last issue on pp. 407-8

we referred to publications on

Chinese etiquette.
cmncse ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^

Btiquette. ^^^.^^J ^^^^^^ ^^

mention Dr. Gilbert Reid's
article, ''The Social Rela-
tionships of Missionaries with
the Chinese," xxxvi, 431, and
"The Value of Attention to
Chinese Etiquette" xxiii, 52.
A friend has kindly sent us
the pamphlet issued by the
late Rev. A. G. Jones. We
have made enquiries, but cannot
find that the brochure is on sale
anywhere. And this suggests
the advisability of someone
gathering together what has
been written on this matter in
one special book on Chinese
Etiquette.

As Rev. D. ]\IacGillivray and
Mr. Robert Law, of Jardine,
©netaften. Matheson & Co.,
tbe other left. Y'«« returning
from Mohkansan
on July 5th, their boat was
struck by a cyclone when
opposite the Kiangnan Dock
and Engineering Co. ' s premises.
The boat completely turned
over, Mr. Law being at once
thrown into the water and
drowned, while Mr. MacGilli-
vray was finally rescued from
underneath the capsized boat by
marines of the U. S. gunboat
"Quiros." Mr. MacGillivray
lost his baggage, including the
manuscripts of the Classified and
Descriptive Catalogue of Cur-
rent Christian Literature, which
he intended handing the
printers on arrival. He has,
however, begun to rewrit-e it.

and hopes that Societies and
authors will help by sending
him at once descriptions and
sample copies of their works.
Besides these, two sketches of
Missions for the Conference
went down, but these also can
be replaced. We sympathise
deeply with Mr. MacGillivray
in this severe loss which entails
so much extra work. We
tender heartfelt sympathies to
the family of Mr. Law. He
was a warm friend of all mis-
sionarv effort.

In our Church Praise De-
partment (page 443) we have
„. ^. printed the music

^^"^- Song," and in con-
nection with it (page 444) three
versions in Chinese which
have been kindly sent to us by
different friends. The com-
parison of these versions will
be interesting, and we should
like to know which one our
readers prefer, as we expect to
print a number as separate
leaflets. The study of the
three brings up some interest-
ing points in connection with
hymn composition. We asked
a Chinese friend which of the
three translations he preferred,
and his criticism was some-
what sweeping. He said (in
Shanghai colloquial) : ^ %% tS

jg ^ 1^. He also remarked
how peculiar it was that some
hymns which have been so
helpful in the home lands
appealed only very slightly
to Chinese Christians when
translated.

466

The Chinese Recorder.

[August

Missionary News,

Progressive Presbyterian
Union in Central China.

HISTORICAI. RKSUM^.

For years past, efforts have
been making in Presbyterian cir-
cles for a closer union of denom-
inational forces in China. In
the early days there was little
or nothing to unite, but in
1877 the American Presbyterians
(North) having already combined
in a Synod their own widely-
scattered forces, issued a circular
inviting a conference of other
Presbyterians to consider the
question.

At intervals such answers
came as ' ' not feasible at pre-
sent," " desirable but not pract-
icable," etc., etc.

In 1897 a scheme to publish a
"Presbyterian Annual" fell to
the ground.

In 1898 the publication of a
" union weekly newspaper " was
** encouraged," but no definite
steps taken.

In 1899 the American Pres-
byterians (South) overtured
other Presbyterian bodies to
hold a conference to consider:
(i) Presbyterian Union, (2)
Theological Seminary. ( 3 )
Weekly Newspaper. (4) Sabbath
Observance. This resulted in
a Presbyterian convention held in
Shanghai in October, 1 901. After
careful discussion committees
were appointed, whose work even-
tually resulted in establishing

I. A UNION WEEKI.Y NEWS-
PAPER.

The Rev. S. I. Woodbridge
was set apart by his Mission as
editor-in-chief, and began pub-
lication about Chinese New Year
1902, with 1,200 copies; in 1903

the circulation had increased to
2,400, in 1904 to 3,000, in 1905 to
3,500; and for the year of 1906,
4,000 or more are needed each
week for subscribers to the
T'ting We7i Pao.

II. THE UNION PRESBYTERIAN
THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

To give immediate effect to
the union idea the American
Presbyterians, North and South,
commenced in 1903 with a joint
class of theological students
in Soochow. Having received
favor and financial support from
home, it was determined to
locate the Seminary at Nanking,
land was purchased, several
buildings are already completed,
and Rev. J. C. Garritt, D.D., of
the Northern, and the Rev. J. W.
Davis, D.D., of the Southern
Presbyterians, have been elected
professors. The Seminary will
open for regular classes the
coming autumn.

III. THE WU SANG SYNOD.

By far the most difficult prob-
lem lay upon the committee
appointed to prepare a plan of
union, organic or federal as the
way might open. The progress
of their work is to be seen in
printed reports dated October,
1902, November, 1903, October,

1905-

The problem was to assimi-
late :—

(i). National bias cast in a
Chinese mold, viz., American,
Canadian, Dutch, English, Irish,
Scotch and other Presbyterian
work.

(2). Variant standards with
historic backgrounds, viz, the
Westminster Symbols, Belgic
Confessions, Canons of Dort, etc.

1906.]

Missionary News.

467

(3). Current polity of divergent
types, i.e., Presbyteries proposed
or existing as autonomous, co-
operative, detached or mixed
units.

Persistent agitation at home
and sympathetic conference on
the field , however, overcame all op-
position, so far as the American
Presbyterians were concerned.

In April, 1906, the American
Presbyterians (South) having
formed with the Chinese their
Kiang-cheh Presbytery on the
co-operative plan, were ready for
union. The China Synod of the
Northern Presbyterians having
successively (for geographical
reasons) mainly divided into the
North-China, Central and South-
ern China Synods, was waiting.

At Nanking, on May 26th,
after several days* discussion,
a Conservative Constitution
with a Liberal Administration
welded together the Niugpo,
Hangchow, Shanghai and Nan-
king Presbyterial units of the
Central China Synod along with
the new Kiang-cheh Presbytery
to form the Wu Sang Synod.

The following translation of
the terms of compact may be of
interest.

The China five provi7ices U7iited
Sy7iod's co7istitue7it seve7i articles.

I. The Presbyteries of Central
and Southern China Synod,
together with the newly erected
Kiang-cheh Presbytery, respect-
ing the feelings of the Lord when
He contemplated the extension
of His church, all together agree
as to the erection of a Union
Synod, comprising the five pro-
vinces of Chehkiang, Kiangsu,
Hupeh, Honan and Anhui ; this
Synod constituting the supreme
(church court) known as the
Wu Sang Synod.

II. This united Synod shall
exercise authority over the
churches within its bounds.

III. This Synod collectively
confesses the Old and New Testa-
ments to be God's expressed
Word, each member of Synod
asserts the duty to firmly believe
and not to depart from the Scrip-
ture rule and pattern.

IV. This Synod now adopts
the church standards previous-
ly used, viz., the existing tran-
slations into Chinese of The
Confession of Faith, The Larger
and Shorter Catechisms, The
Form of Government, and like
books (i.e., discipline, worship,
etc.)

V. Both Chinese and foreign
Presbyters shall act in accord
with the existing rules of
each Presbytery in transacting
business.

VI. In places where presby-
teries have not yet been erected,
it is incumbent to propose suit-
able plans for individual churches
territorially connected to form
presbyteries after mutual con-
sultation, and they shall apply
for the approval of Synod.

VII. This Synod orders that
each Presbytery, with identical
territories, consult carefully and
carry out (consistently) the plan
of union.

STATISTICAI, BASIS.

At Nanking, when the Wu
Sang Synod was organized, there
were present

20 Ordained missionaries,
14 Chinese pastors,
16 Chinese elders,
representing

• 5 Presbyteries,

33 Organized churches,
3,259 Communicants.

As quite a number remain to
be included in churches or pres-
byteries not yet fully organized,
these figures will soon be largely
increased to include all in the five
provinces.

468

The Chinese Recorder.

[August,

FUTURE PROBLEMS.

The matter of higher educa-
tion, closer mission comity, and
the formation of a General As-
sembly require further attention.
In view of what has been accom-
plished, it is time to '* thank God,
take courage and move forward.' '

THE WIDER OUTLOOK.

When the various Presbyterian
bodies have effected the long
desired union, it does not seem
too much to hope that other
bodies may do as much, and the
day eventually arrive when in
some sense of the word "they
all may be one."

W. H. Hudson,

Translator

(^English) Clerk of Syjiod.

Canton Notes.

ROBERT MORRISON MEMORIAI,
SCHEME.

Yesterday (Sunday, July ist)
was a historical day in the histor}^
of Christian missions here. Some
time ago Rev. T. W. Pearce
brought before our Missionary
Conference a Robert Morrison
memorial scheme. This has been
heartily taken up, and a committee
has been busy arranging for a
world-wide appeal that the attain-
ment may be worthy of its pur-
pose. It was felt that this appeal
would have enhanced value if
we were able to say that the
Christians of Canton had already
pledged a fair proportion of the
sum aimed at. So a mass meet-
ing was called for the afternoon
of Sunday, July ist, and Rev. T.
W. Pearce and Mr. Au Fung-chi,
of the I^ondon Mission, Hongkong,
were invited to address the gather-
ing. It was indeed a great meet-
ing, and if from the vantage
ground which his spirit now
occupies Robert Morrison looked
on that grand assembly he must

have " seen of the travail of his
soul and been satisfied." The
addresses were impressive, and
when an appeal was made at the
close there was hearty response.
It was rather remarkable that
women seemed to be the largest
donors. I believe that already
about $7,000 has been pledged.
The appeal will be circulated
throughout China, and it is ex-
pected that everywhere Chinese
Christians will be glad to acknowl-
edge, in a tangible way, their
indebtedness to Robert Morrison,
the first Protestant missionary to
land on Chinese soil. It is in-
tended that on a central site in
Canton a large assembly hall
should be built in which our
union meetings can be held.
There will also be a library, a
missionary museum, a gymna-
sium, etc., anti the whole will be
placed under the care of the
Y. M. C. A. Thus the perma-
nency of the institution under
competent management will be
ensured. It was but fitting that
the Martyrs' Memorial should be
in Shanghai, and no one will
question that there could be an}'-
other place for a Morrison memo-
rial but Canton.

C. I. M. Conference, Ping-
yang Fu, Shansi.

This year our numbers were some-
what reduced by the absence of
several on furlough. However thirty-
two missionaries and sixty native
delegates, representing the C. I. M.
stations and churches in Central, East-
ern and Western Shansi met in Con-
ference at Piug-yang from May 17th
to 22nd.

The first two days were largely oc-
cupied with open fellowship meetings,
when the leadership of the Holy
Spirit was felt by all ; several of the
meetings being especially solemn
and heart-searching, while the Holy
Spirit in great stillness laid bare the
secrets of many hearts until they
could be kept secret no longer, and
relief and forgiveness were sought in

1906/

Missionary News.

469

open confession to one another and in
prayer : Gradually the character of
the meetings clianged to joy and
gladness, and deep thankfulness and
praise took the place of confession and
prayer.

Education.

In accordance with a strong desire
expressed in the native Conference
that our elementary Christian schools
should be made more efficient, it was
decided to adopt an uniform course
of study throughout the district, and
in order to improve the present
teaching staff, it was decided to es-
tablish a summer normal school, and
also to take steps with a view to
establishing a central intermediate
school.

Federation.

^Ir. E. J. Cooper, who was appoint-
ed by the Conference last year to
attend the Peking Conference on
Union, gave an interesting report of
that Conference.

This was followed by a discussion of
what further action should be taken
in reference to the proposals from the
Peking Conference to form a North
China divisional council with the
object of appomting delegates to a
national federation council for the
whole of China

After careful consideration it was
thought inadvisable to attempt the
the formation of the representative
council, pending the centenary Con-
ference to be held in Shanghai in
1907, when all missions and societies
will be adequately represented.

Native Conference.

One of the native meetings was
devoted to the consideration of what
additional means could be devised to
further spread the Gospel and lead
men to Christ. The following were
some of the means suggested : —

1st. INIake our Christian schools
more efficient so as to obtain an influ-
ence over the educated class and bring
the sons and daughters of outsiders
under Christian education and train-
ing.

2nd. In order to reach and influ-
ence the ladies in yam^ns and other
wealthy families, it was urged that
foreign lady workers should teach
them English.

3rd. Cultivate intercourse with the
gentry and oJBftcials in order to win
them to the truth .^

4th. Start industrial work to reach
and help the poor.

5tli. Instruct Christian lads in
trades, etc., so as to influence the
artizan and mercantile sections of
the people.

6tli. Wider circulation of books
and periodicals.

7th. The formation of a prayer
union for these objects and the ex-
tension of Christ's kingdom through-
out the province.

It was strongly urged by several of
the leaders that if these proposals
were to be carried into effect, they
must themselves put their hands
earnestly to the work and contribute
liberally for their support.

It is a hopeful sign that a sense of
responsibility in initiation and for
financial support of these objects, as
also the need of prayer, was so clearly
expressed.

The total baptisms in district during
1905 was 270.

Total membership in December,
X905, was 1,357.

Total native contributions lor 1905,
Tls. 955.47.

Number of patients in refuges, 2,113,
of whom about 1,300 broke off in
connection with the work carried on
by the native opium refuge society,
which is entirely under native man-
agement.

There were twenty schools for bo5'S
and four for girls with 247 scholars
in the former and 87 in the latter.

The work is l^eing carried on in
about thirty-three different counties,
and there are eighty-three recognized
places of worship, including stations
and out-stations.

Taylor.
Briscoe.

e 1 • S Earnest H.
Secretaries \^^.^,^^^

Conference in Siangyang
and Fancheng.

From the 7th to the nth P'ebruary
this year the Scandinavian Mission-
ary Conference in China held its third
annual meeting in Siangyang and
Fancheng.

These two cities, situated opposite
each other on the Han river— the first
a splendid specimen of a Chinese
official city and the latter a thriving
business centre — form the starting
points of two missions, viz., the
Swedish American and Hanges
Synodes.

'Five different missions were repre-
sented in the conference, the nominal
membership of which is fifty, whereof
thirty-six were present this year.

470

The Chinese Recorder.

[August, 1906.

Without attempting to make any-
thing like a full report the main im-
port of the addresses may be gathered
under a few general headings.

I. Hoiu to bring relief to the
suffering.

Here the cause of the unhappy
small ones, the suflfering sick ones
and the destitute poor was warmly
pleaded in three papers respectively
on (i) Orphanages for girls. (2)
Sick nursing in missionary hospitals
and how to get nurses. (3) How to
improve the condition of the poor.

II. Problems in regard to the
establis/mtent and extension of the
Christian church in China.

The importance of self-support was
strongly emphasized, pointing to the
practice of the apostolic time as the
norm for all after times and to the
unique success of the Uganda mission
as an evidence of the advantage of
a firm adherence to this principle,
even in our times. Further, the
wise choice and good education of
native evangelists and how to
augment their usefulness by pru-
dent supervision and brotherly inter-
course was ably dealt with ; keep-
ing of the Lord's day was pointed
to as a blessed gift from God giving
opportunity for learning to know
Him more and, in consequence, serve
Him better. To this same end in
wider spheres attention was called to
united meetings with their beneficial
influence of combined efforts and
mutual edification. The addresses
delivered on this point were :

(i) vSelf-support for the native
churches.

(2) Evangelists, their education,
status in the mission, proper work
and salary.

(3) Keeping of the Lord's day.

(4) United meetings between con-
gregations of the same mission and
between those of different missions.

III. How to deal with some Chi-
nese practices not consistent with
Christianity.

Christianity must necessarily bring
about many changes in outward prac-
tices as well as in inward life, but the
difiiculty at present is in regard to
the stress to be laid on these changes
in admission into the church and in
our intercourse with the people. Two
thoroughgoing addresses: — (i). The
Christian congregation and polygamy.
(2). How to deal with the existing
ranks, — dealt with this point.

To be mentioned remains still an
inspiring address on

IV. How to aiuaken and maintain
the tnissionary interest at home.

Some of these subjects were dis-
cussed. Singing, recitation and music
brightened the time between the
ordinary sessions.

Preceding the deliberations of each
day united prayer meetings were held
and also at other times as the Spirit
led, and these quiet half hours — when
eyes were lifted to the Father of all
good gifts seeking grace and guidance
for life and labour — were strengthen-
ing times indeed.

E. OSNES,
P. A. Seer.

Missionary Journal.

DEATH.

Near Linkiang, Kiangsi, 29th June,
J. K. Br.\uchi.i, C. I. M., from
accidental drowning.

ARRIVAL.

At Shanghai, 30th June. Dr. Ti-
mothy Richard, C. L. S.
departures.

29th June. Misses H. Sifton and
F. M. Ward, both of K. B. M. , for
England.

30th June. Misses A. Young and
I. Morgan, Alliance Mis., for U. S.
A. ; Mr. J. Crofoot, S. D. B. M., for
U. S. A. ; Miss J. V. Morgan, C. and
M. A., for Canada.

nth July, Miss E. B. Cooper,
M.D., Mrs. Melrose, both A. P. M.,
for U. S. A. ; Rev. and Mrs. J.
Whiteside and baby, M. E. M. S.,
for U. S. A.

13th Julv. Mr. G. B. Palmer,
A. C. M., for U. S. A., via England.

14th July. Miss M. E. Wood, A.
C. M. ; Misses Hill, Green, Flag-
ler, and Glass, South Chihli Mis-
sion, all for U. S. A.

i8th July. Mr. J. Shipman, A. C.
M.,forU. S. A.

2ist July. Rev. Louis Byrde, wife
and three children, C. M. S., for Eng-
land, via U. S. A.

HIS IMPRRIAI^ MAJESTY KDANG HStJ.

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL,

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $(.75) per annum, postpaid.
VOL. XXXVII. SEPTEMBER, 1906. NO. 9.

Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese.

BY THE REV. I. GENAHR.*

IN one of Dean Farrar's books three great heathen philoso-
phers (Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius) are called
"Seekers after God," and he thinks these men surely
deserve that title if it may be given to men who, amid infinite
difficulties and surrounded by a corrupt society, devoted them-
selves to the earnest search after those truths which might best
make their lives "beautiful before God."

There is no doubt that by sketching the biographies of
some of the Chinese philosophers it could easily be shown that
they too could claim a right to be classed among the " Seekers
after God." And it certainly would be highly interesting and
profitable as well to follow on the lines of Dean Farrar and to
produce the life stories of some of these men, eminent for their
kind, humble and pure lives. My task to-night will be,
however, a far humbler one, as it is not my intention to point
out to you the best and loftiest characters presented to us in
the records of Chinese antiquity, but rather to show you that
not only do men who rank as ph^osophers seek or feel after
God, but also many of the weary combatants in the battle of
life, familiar with poverty and hardship, feel inexpressible
longing to know what and who God is. Such men have
founded and developed the various so-called 'secret' sects of
China. And it is these downtrodden, persecuted and ill-spoken,

* Paper read before the Missionary Association in Hongkong.

472 Ihc Chinese Recorder. [September,

of sectarians of China of whom I want to give you some details.
Much of what I am going to say to-night you will find in a
book recently published by Professor De Groot, a Dutch scholar,
on *' Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China." A full
review of this book has been printed in last year's RECORDER
(p. 131 if.) I shall have also to refer to some other wTiters on
similar subjects, so that I do not lay claim to any originality in
this paper, though I may say I have made religious sects in
China an object of careful study for years.

Secret sects or religious communities in China are not
exactly the same as secret societies, though they have been
sometimes dealt with by foreign writers as if they were one and
the same, and no distinction is made between them by the
government since both alike are forbidden and persecuted by
the law of the country. Secret societies, in spite of their
semi-religious character, as a rule are political in their aim,
and with few exceptions essentially seditious. The avowed
object for which they exist and are ever ready to fight and to
die is the re-establishment of a pure Chinese dynasty and of
subverting the Manchus. Their war cry ever has been and
still is "Down with the Ts'ings and up with the Mings"
(R SI ?fi ^ • Unable to realize their revolutionary aspirations
most of them have degenerated into bands of rebels and robbers,
combining to commit unlawful acts, such as piracy, armed
robberies and blackmailing. Though interdicted by the most
stringent penal laws they have continued to flourish and
terrorize over mandarins and people alike, and probably the
number of their adherents was never greater than now. The
best known of them are the Triad Society (^ ^ ^), the K6-16-
kwui (^ ^ t"), the ''Tiger-tail Whips" (j^ ^ ^^\ the "Fists
of Righteousness and Concord" (^ fn H)) ^^^ "Red Brick
Society " {^X ® fi) ^^^ others.

Unlike the secret societies, most of which have been
brought into existence through hatred against a foreign rule
which they despise and want to get rid of, the religious sects
sprang, partially at least, out of a common desire to know the
infinite and the eternal. As one writer puts it: "The awakened
soul puts out feelers, and these cross the void which separates
us from the unseen and take hold of the being or beings
beyond." Obscure as they are, and despised by the ordinary
literati, it is among these sects that we are to look for the
development of the religious instincts of the people. And as but

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 473

scanty information regarding sectarianism conld be obtained by
European writers in years past, we need not be greatly
astonished to find so often the statement that the Chinese are
not a religious people ; nay that they are even indifferent to all
religious creeds. Even a scholar so accomplished and erudite
as Mr. Fairbairn thinks the Chinese to be a people "singularly
deficient in the religious faculty.'* "This people," he says,*
"has a so attenuated religious faculty or genius that it can
hardly be said even to have known religion, at least as Semitic
and Indo-European peoples understand it." Dr. Faber, on the
other hand, feels inclined, from his own observations, to main-
tain that the Chinese belong perhaps to the most religious
people of the world. "Only," he adds, "we must not look
for any symptoms of religion similar to those to which we are
accustomed in Christian lands, "f

Into the interesting and by no means easily answered
question here raised I do not feel required to enter. It would
be easy to discuss it at great length, but I am not sure that
much light would be thrown upon it. But there is a practical
method of approaching the matter, which will serve our purpose
much better than abstract discussion, and that is by fixing
our attention on the sects in China for the time placed at our
disposal. And by so doing I think it will become evident
that the symptoms of religion in China, after all, are not so
very unlike to those to which we are accustomed in Christian
lands, in spite of Dr. Faber' s remark to the contrary. No
doubt the scriptural decision that "the world by wisdom knew
not God," applies also to the sects in China. However there is
sufficient proof to show that Goethe's famous saying : —

" Ein guter Mensch in seinem dunkeln Drange
1st sich des rechten Weges wohl bewusst,"

so true and yet so simple that it refuses to be translated, is
as true in China as anywhere else.

It will be easier to attain this end, and more profitable
besides, if we limit our researches to one of the more prominent
sects instead of roaming throng the vast field of Chinese
sectarianism. It has well been remarked that all the different
names of sects we find in China give us no right to conclude
that there are as many distinctly different, disconnected reli-
gious corporations. Each corporation may have ofF-shoots,

* Studies in the Philosophy of Religion and History, 1877, p. 310.
t Faber, Introduction to the Science of Chinese Religion, p. VIII.

474 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

parishes, communities, under various denominations ; and the
probability is that the number of actual sects is much smaller
than that of the sect-names. Besides, it must often have
happened that a sect, or a branch of a sect, took a new name
to mislead the persecuting mandarinate.*

So far not much has been written on sectarianism in
China. Under the title of Secret Sects in Shantung Dr. D.
H. Porter has published an article in the Recorder of 1886 in
which he gives a sketch of a sect he thought most worthy of
study: the ** Eight Diagram Society' ' or *'Pa-kua" (A #)
sect. In the same year Dr. Edkins, referring to Dr.
Porter's paper, wrote on the same subject and tried to show
that sectarianism was born from Confucian philosophy when,
under the Sung dynasty, this passed through its golden age
of development. One year later the same scholar read a paper
at a meeting of the Peking Missionary Association, in which he
gave some account of books of the modern religious sects in
North China. This lecture was printed in full in the Recorder
of 1888. In an essay read before the Missionary Conference,
held at Shanghai in 1890, the Rev. F. H. James furnished a
list of ten of these societies, prevailing in the province of
Shantung, with a short account of them.

You will have noticed that all these publications concern
themselves only with the sects in North China. As they are
easily accessible to everyone, I will not touch on them here.

But there are some other religious societies in Mid and
South China, which are also well worthy of our interest.
It is to Professor De Groot that we are indebted for much solid
information about them. Sufficiently trained in China's reli-
gious philosophy (he is the author of a standard work on the
*' Religious System of China," in four volumes) and well
versed in the customs of this land, he has given us in his
latest work on sectarianism the fullest account of two pro-
minent sects, the Sien-tien (-7^ 5c) ^^^ ^^^ Lung-hwa (f| ^)
sect — that has yet been published, and he recommends them
to the attention of students of East Asiatic religion in general
and to missionaries in particular. (By the way I may remark
that De Groot has dedicated his book to *'A11 missionaries of
every Christian creed labouring in China").

These two sects, he says, possess everything appertaining
to a complete religious system : founders and prophets, a

*

De Groot, Sectarianism and Religious Persecution, p. 155 f., 174,

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 475

pantheon, commandments, moral philosophy, initiation and
consecration, religious ritual, sacred books and writings, even
theology, a Paradise and Hell — everything borrowed principally
from old Chinese philosophy and cosmogony.* Fearing to
trespass on your time, I will confine myself to-night only to
a sketch of the Lung-hwa (|| ^") sect. Although one in
principle and aspiration, viz., salvation, as indeed all Chinese
sects practically are, the Sien-tien and the Lung-hwa sect are
far from similar in other respects. While the latter is
thoroughly ritualistic, the former is most positively adverse
to religious ritualism, show and activity.

Professor De Groot's "dearest wish," as he himself tells us,
for many years has been to get an insight into the doctrine,
purpose and aspirations of Chinese sects. When some eighteen
years ago he settled in China a second time for ethnographical
researches, sectarianism in general was amongst the first items
on his programme. Chang-chen, Ts'iien-chen and Hing-hwa,
the south-eastern departments of Fuk-kien, of which he under-
stood the vernacular were his principal fields of study. He
fortunately made the acquaintance of some sectarians, who
from fear of persecution delivered up to him their religious
books, and by so doing enabled him to draw up a sketch of
that mysterious, persecuted portion of China's religious system,
the sects. About nine-tenths of the papers entrusted to Mr.
De Groot were filled with notes about the ceremonies and
religious practices of the Lung-hwa sect, and it was only
with the help of his heretic friends that he could decipher the
papers, which contained a hardly intelligible mixture of
Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

According to the statements of these men, the Lung-hwa
society was founded by a certain Lo Hwai (^ ^j, who at the
same time is looked on as the great prophet of the Sien-tien
sect. The birth-place of this prophet and incarnate Buddha
was Teng-hiang (^ ^^f), a place somewhere in the province
of Shantung. After an eventful life, during which he
travelled much, preached salvation and gave many proofs
of his supernatural power, he entered, at the age of eighty-five,
the blissful state of Nirvana. This event took place in
Peking in the year 1647. Over his grave (he was buried
in the vicinity of his homestead) a thirteen-storied pagoda
was erected, the bright glare of which agitated heaven and

* De Groot, Sectarianism, p. 175.

476 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

earth. The title of " Patriarch Lo of Shantung, Holy Prince'*
(lU "^ S BL ^ S") w^^ bestowed upon him by the Emperor.
To the historical part of the papers of this society a mixture
of fable and history declare. From them we gather that Lo
Hwai was also the founder of the Wu-wei religion (4£ ;g 15;),*
a proof, if there was one needed, that we were entitled to
say that the sects are much the same in China, though they
have many names.

The name of the Lung-hwa Society, however, existed in
times much anterior to those in which the prophet lived.
Lung-hwa literally means Dragon-flower, and seems to have
been given very often to Buddhist convents. Dr. De Groot
has found not less than five Buddhist Lung-hwa convents
mentioned in Chinese books, but without the slightest hint
at a connection between them and the sect of that name.
From the fact that Maitreya, the Messiah of this sect, is
also the chief saint of the White Lotus society < |& ; J* ^ he
argues the possible analogy of the latter with the Lung-
hwa sect and points out that Lung-hwa may simply mean
a lotus.

Unlike the Sien-tien sect which, you will remember, is
thoroughly opposed to outward show, the Lung-hwa society
worships a great number of gods and goddesses and makes
painted or carved likenesses of them. At the head of its deities
are the San-kih (^ S)) or three powers of nature, viz., heaven,
earth and man, mostly represented as three old men, each
holding in their hands the eight diagrams (yX J[^), arranged
in a circle. In some of their meeting places, De Groot saw
these pictures suspended on the wall for worship during the
religious exercises.

Immediately after these follow the San-pao (^ SX or
Three Precious Ones, the Buddhist Triratna, and moreover,
all kinds of Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist saints.

For their common services in honour of these deities,
and for their religious meetings in general, the sectaries use the
principal apartment or hall in ordinary dwelling-houses, with
the full consent, of course, of the owner, often himself a leader.
Such places they call Ts'ai-t'ang ^^), "Vegetarian Halls,"
because the Buddhist command against the killing of living
beings makes the sectaries altogether vegetarians. The several
communities into which the sect is divided all acknowledge
* Wu-wai (J^ i^) signifies " without activity or exertion," inertness.

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 477

one common head, a kind of overseer or pope who bears the
title of Khong-khong (^ ^), ''The Empty of the Empty,"
evidently an eminent Nirvana-man, who has so perfectly
divested himself of everything mundane that he is merged in
voidness or non-existence. This pope, they say, lives in Fuh-
ts'ing (f^ JU), a district extending southward of Fuh-cheu, the
provincial capital. After the Khong-khong follow in rank a
number of Tai-khong (:fc ^), or ''Most Empty Ones," and
after these the Ts'ing-hu (fll ,>^), or "Pure Empty Ones."
These three highest classes of dignitaries, as their titles indicate,
must have merged in a great degree with the void of Nirvana
by forsaking the vanities of the world.

On the fourth step of the hierarchical ladder stand the
Su-ki (^ Ig,), or "Scribes," a title borrowed from Buddhist
monastic life; next come the Ta-jin (:^ 5|), or "Chief
Introducers." Bearers of the sixth rank are the Siao-jin 0]^ §[ ),
or "Sub-Introducers," whose merits are not so great as those
of the preceding titularies. The seventh rank is that of
San-sing (H ^, or "Third Vehicle." Then follows the
dignity of Ta-sing f;^ ^), or "Great or Superior Vehicle,"
a word representing the term Mahayana. And finally there
is a ninth degree, called Siao-sing (t]\ ^), "Small or Inferior
Vehicle," or Hinayana,* which becomes the property of
every novice, on the simple gj^ound of his initiation in the
community.

The names of these religious degrees, however, are seldom
used in every-day life and conversation. Looking upon each
other as brothers and sisters, they generally denominate one
another familiarly as Ts'ai-iu (|g ;^), or "Vegetarian Friends;"
the men are Ts'ai-kung (^ J^), or "Gentleman Vegetarians;"
the women are Ts'ai-ku (^ ji^), or "Lady Vegetarians;" the
leaders who are expected to excel in piety and learning,
and who are treated by their flocks with the greatest deference,
are simply called Ts'ai-t'ao (^ g|), or " Vegetarian Chiefs."
Women are entitled to be religious leaders too, but as a rule
they seldom act as such. •

* Mah&yana and Hin9.yaiia are the names of schools or systems referring
to the various means by which consecutive forms of Buddhism offered to
convey ("vehicle") the believer across the ocean of misery to the shores
of salvation. Comp. Bitel on Buddhism, p. 36 ff.

(To be C071C hided.)

47S The Chinese Recordei. [September,

The Bible and Missions.

BY BISHOP JAMES W. BASHFORD, D. D.

(Concluded from p. ^jo, August number.)

V. THE NEW TESTAMENT AND MISSIONS.

TURNING to the New Testament we find the book of
Hebrews the connecting link between the Old and the
New dispensation ; and this book reveals throughout the
universal character of Revelation. "God who at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last times spoken unto us by His
Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also
He made the worlds." The author of the book of Hebrews thus
presents Christ, not simply as the creator of the earth, but as
the maker of all worlds. The writer continues, ' ' Since then the
children are sharers in flesh and blood ; Christ also in like manner
partook of the same ; that through death He might destroy him
that hath the power of death, that is the devil ; and that He might
deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their life time
subject to bondage. ' ' Surely the possession of flesh and blood and
the fear of death are not limited to the Jews, and the whole passage
becomes absurd if we suppose the deliverance promised, is limited
to the inhabitants of Palestine. Chapter seven of Hebrews
sweeps purposely beyond Judaism and reveals the priesthood of
Melchizedek as existing outside of the Jewish nation and yet
as ordained by the most high God. Finally we have in the list
of the worthies who obtained salvation by faith the names of
Gentiles like Rahab included among the Jews.

The higher critics represent the Apostle Peter as the most
Jewish writer of the New Testament. But you will recall that
people of all nations listened to Peter's sermon on the Day of
Pentecost, and he offered them all salvation through repentance
and faith in Jesus Christ. The enumeration of Parthians and
Medes and Elamites, of the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judaea
and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in Phrygia and Pamphylia,
in Egypt and parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners from
Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, who
heard Peter in their own tongue speak of the mighty works of
God, stamps the first sermon preached after the ascension of
Christ as a missionary message. In order that we might not

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 479

by any possibility suppose that the inhabitants of these nations
are simply people of Hebrew blood returning to their native
land, the Holy Spirit added the phrase ''Jews and proselytes,''
namely, those who were not Jews by birth, but who, like Ruth,
had risen above their heathen environment and had learned to
worship the true God. Again, because Peter wavers, a special
miracle was wrought in the sheet let down from heaven contain-
ing all manner of beasts, followed by the divine interpretation of
the sign and the call of Peter formally to baptize a Gentile and
to receive Cornelius into the church. How clearly Peter sees
the meaning of the message and the missionary character of this
call is seen in his exclamation: " Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation he that
feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable to Him."
When Peter addresses his second letter ''To them who have
like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ," knowing full well that under his own
preaching Cornelius and many Gentiles on the Day of
Pentecost had become believers ; when he writes, "The Gospel
is given that the Gentiles may glorify God in the day of visita-
tion," we see that the missionary character of the Bible runs
through the warp and woof of Peter's teaching as well as
through the book of Hebrews.

Paul shows most clearly the transition from the Pharisaic
ideal of the Jewish people to the Christian ideal of the evangel-
ization of the race. He says that he was a Pharisee of the
Pharisees. The Protestant church has laid, not only the
supreme, but the exclusive stress upon Paul's doctrine of
justification by faith. That was perhaps the chief part, but it
was only one part of the two-fold revelation which led to Paul's
conversion. The other part leading to the transformation of
Paul from a Pharisee into a missionary constituted an essential
element in his conversion. During his three years' study in
Arabia of the Law and the Prophets in the light of Christ, Paul
saw that Christianity not only regenerated the whole man as the
Law could never do, but it embraced the whole race as
Pharisaism never conceived. Paul now saw in the downfall
of Judah and the collapse of the Asmonean movement, not a
failure of the divine promises, nor an abandonment of the divine
program, but only an application to the Jews of those laws
which the God of all the earth had ordained for the government
of all His children. The.election of Israel now. became in the

480 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

iniiid of Paul the divine call of the Jews to a preparation for the
providential service of the race. Paul now caught a vision of
Judaism expanding into a universal religion and of an infinitely
larger destiny for his native land than he had ever dreamed of
as a Pharisee. He sums up this nobler conception of the divine
program, which embraces not only the Jews, but all the families
of the earth, in the following inspired words: *' The God that
made the world and all things therein. He being Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither
is He served by men's hands, as though He needed anything,
seeing that He Himself giveth to all life and breath and all
things ; and He hath made of one blood all nations of men to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they
should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and
find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. For in
Him we live and move and have our being." Here in one
of the noblest utterances of the Bible, in the first expression
of a philosophy of history, we see Paul rising infinitely
above Pharisaism and becoming the evangelist of the nations.
The church of the Reformation emphasized that side of
Paul's conversion called justification by faith ; the mission-
ary church will lay emphasis upon the equally profound
change which transformed Saul the Pharisee into Paul the
Missionary.

John was such a bigoted Pharisee that when he met a
disciple of the Master who was casting out devils in Christ's
name, he forbade him, because he followed not the other
disciples. Even when the Master was on the final journey to
Jerusalem for the crucifixion and certain Samaritans forbade
Him to enter their village, John started to call down fire from
heaven to consume them. Well was he named the Son of
Thurider. But the author of Revelation catches the world-wide
outlook for the Gospel and writes : ' ' Worthy art thou to take
the Book and open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain and
didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and
tongue and people and nation.'* Moreover fifty years of
Christian experience, under the lead of the Holy Spirit, brought
John to a position so infinitely in advance of Pharisaism that in
the very prologue of his Gospel he announces Christ as ''the
true light which lighteth every man coming into the world j-^'^
and he alone of all the disciples recalls John Baptist's inspired

1906. J The Bible and Missions. 481

description of the Master : ' ' Behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the ivorld,^^

Jesus Christ is the supreme representative of the missionary
conception of the New Testament. Only on the hypothesis of
the offer of salvation to all men and of Christ's purpose that the
Gospel should be preached to all the world can the words and
acts of Jesus be understood. He called Himself the Son of Man,
and refused the Jewish title of Messiah until His break with the
Pharisees robbed this divine title of all taint of Jewish exclusive-
ness. He announced His mission in the words, ^'TheSonof
Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." If the
Jews admitted themselves to be the only persons lost through
sin, they could claim Jesus as their exclusive Savior. But if all
men are lost through sin, then Jesus came to save all. The first
w^ords of the Lord's Prayer, ''Our Father," teach the father-
hood of God and the brotherhood of men. The petition, "Thy
kingdom come; thy will be done as in heaven, soon earth,'*
cannot be uttered by any one who expects the kingdom to be
limited to any single race. One cannot repeat the Lord's
Prayer without becoming at least an unconscious missionary.
Every parable Jesus spoke, every principle He enunciated, is of
universal application. To be sure Jesus said to the Syro-
phenician woman : ' ' I am not sent save to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel," but the glad leap of His heart at her persistence
shows that He said it only to deepen her faith. Jesus' recogni-
tion of the centurion's faith, and His declaration, "They shall
come from the East and the West and shall sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven ; and
the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness"
awakened the antagonism of the Pharisees. They saw at once
that Jesus was denying their exclusive privileges and was
opening the kingdom to ail men. The Parable of the Laborers
in the Vineyard applies to nations as well as to individuals.
The Jews as the theocratic nation had borne the heat and
burden of the day. In this parable Jesus teaches that nations,
which had apparently done nothing for the kingdom but had
been waiting during the centuries for their appointed tasks,
were to be given an equal opportunity with the Jews. Jesus
does not leave us to inferences drawn from His parables. He
plainly says to Nicodemus : "God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life." It is the " whoso-

482 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

evers'' which run like a golden thread through the New
Testament; it is such promises as "Ask and ye shall receive,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you ;"
it is such passages as we find in the Lord's Prayer, and such
testimonies as are borne by John the Baptist and John the beloved
disciple ; it is Jesus' declaration that all the iiatums of the
earth shall be called before Him for final judgment, which makes
Christianity the religion of the race and our preaching necessarily
missionary. Thus a candid study of the Gospels compels the
missionary interpretation of the teachings of Jesus independently
of the last commission, and such a study makes that last com-
mission, " Go ye into all the world and disciple all nations," the
only logical or possible conclusion of the teachings of the Master.
Indeed we may say that Jesus suffered death rather than
abandon His missionary ideal. When Pilate asked Him if He
was a king, Jesus used the strongest form of afl[irmation in
answering : " Thou say est that I am a king ; . . . every one that
is of the truth heareth my voice." John xviii. 37. The Jews
would have died for Him in order to establish their supremacy
over the Romans. Gladly would they have given their lives in
a struggle under His leadership for the rulership of all nations.
But when Jesus summoned them to serve rather than to rule,
and to serve all men rather than the Jews alone, the break
between the Pharisaic party and Jesus became inevitable.
Surely with the marvelous insight into character and motives
which Jesus showed throughout His public life, He must have
seen that He could avoid death at the hands of His fellow-
countrymen only if He would abandon His ideal. That ideal
was rulership through service rather than through divine
prerogative, and that service was the service of the race rather
than of the Jews alone. Jesus' plan of life is as clearly violated
by the American who says: "Christ is for the Anglo-Saxons
and Confucius for the Chinese," as it was contradicted by the
Jews. Jesus' ideal is as certainly lowered by the English
Christian who says : "My service and money are for England,'*
as by the Pharisee who said : "My duty and devotion are to
Palestine. " It is at least significant that Jesus preferred death
to the acceptance at the hands of the Jews of the identical
program which the opponents of modern Missions mark out for
Him. "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold ; them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be cue fold and one shepherd."

1906.] The Bible and Missions. 485

The whole trend of history is toward the embodiment of
the missionary ideal. In ancient history, conqnest was the vice
of nations, tyranny the vice of monarchs, slavery the vice of
families. Modern nations are moving toward democracy. Mr.
Stead in "The Americanization of the World" has pointed out
the fact that representative government has been adopted during
the nineteenth century by every nation of Europe save Russia.
Russia and China are now entering upon the transition from
autocratic to representative institutions. Equal opportunities for
all men is the ideal toward which modern civilization is tending.
Equal opportunities in business is the goal toward whicli
the struggle ])etween labor and capital is slowly moving. The
dishonor with which a rich man, who leaves nothing for the
public welfare, sinks into his grave, the very savagery with
which the greed of the rich man is criticized to-day, is due to
the fact that modern civilization is moving swiftly toward the
ideal of service rather than of selfishness ; and the struggle for
world-wide federations of labor, the growth of the Hague
tribunal, the formation of international alliances, show that men
and nations alike are acquiring the world outlook. In a word,
the whole trend of modern industrial and political history is
becoming missionary in its character.

The trend of our latest church history is toward co-operation
and union for the conquest of the world. Professor R. T.
Stevenson's The Missiofiary Interpi'ctatioji of History is as bril-
liant as Buckle's History of Civilization^ or Taine's English
Literature^ or Professor Seeley's Expansion of England ; and
more lasting than its brilliant predecessors, because while Buckle
and Taine rest upon an outgrown materialism, and Seeley upon
the great truth of nationality, Stevenson rests upon the fatherhood
of God and the brotherhood of man. This trend may demand as
our last and highest sacrifice in China the temporary suspension
of forms of church government and of religious practices which
we have inherited from our fathers and mothers and which are
dearer to us than life. If God is only the means, and your
church or my church is the end of creation, then religion is
ecclesiasticism, and you must hold your church shibboleth dearer
than the interests of humanity and as identical with the honor
of God. But if God is the centre of the universe, to be glorified
only by bringing creation to Him, and our churches are only
the means — the divine means, but only the means — for bringing
all men to Him, then neither you nor I can hold as sacred to

484 Ihe Chinese Recorder. [September,

the honor of God or plead principle for retaining any peculiarity
which hinders co-operation and delays the bringing of the race
to Him. If the armies of the leading nations of the world for
the time could dip their flags, to which each soldier had
pledged the last drop of his blood, and could unite under
a single commander with union subordinate officers for the
rescue of a thousand of our brothers and sisters in Peking,
cannot we as Christians temporarily dip our denominational
standards, if need be, to bring four hundred million well-
beloved Chinese to our common Lord and Master ? God help
me to be willing for even this sacrifice when the Master calls
for it.

If we are right in our interpretation of the restless struggles
of our times and of the Bible, then Missions are not a depart-
ment of church activity ; the evangelization of the world is not
one of the varied functions of the church ; it is the goal of all
church labor, it is the end for which the Christian church exists.
Mr. Gladstone was right in saying : ''The missionary problem
is the one great question of the age.'^ The Anglican and
Protestant Episcopal Bishops in that great Lambeth conference
were right in declaring, ''Missions constitute the primary work
for which the church was commissioned by our Lord." The
Presbyterian Church voiced the ideal of Christendom in the
declaration, "The Presbyterian Church is a missionary society
whose chief business is the propagation of the Gospel to the
uttermost parts of the earth. ' ' John Wesley was helped of God
in saying, "The world is my parish."

It is because missionaries are engaged in world conquests
that their thoughts have an imperial sweep. It is because they
are working in the line of the divine providence that their
language is optimistic, that their plans have the strength of the
ages in them, and that their liv^es have the peace and the power
of God. They stand on the Bible's opening revelation of God's
creatorship of all things, and they are bringing back the
prodigal nations to the Father's house. They are true sons of
Abraham, in whom God is fulfilling the promise of the covenant.
"And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."
They are bringing in the everlasting triumph of that Messiah
of whom prophets spake and psalmists sang. They are spiritual
brothers and sisters of Peter and Paul, who for the spread of
the kingdom, poured out their blood in foreign lands. They
are following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who was an

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 485

only Son, and yet became a foreign missionary. And so in
America and England, in Germany and Scandinavia, in
India, Japan and Africa, and in China they are summoning
the nations of the earth to join in worshipping one '^God and
Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.''

How can we best meet the New Conditions which
are coming into Ascendancy in China ?

BY DR. K. J. OSGOOD, CHU-CHKO.
THK OLD CONDITIONS.

MISSIONARIES and non-missionaries have tried to
describe the past state of the Chinese nation and their
attitude toward foreign nations. It has not been an
easy task. Even after long association with the Chinese a
foreigner finds it difficult to enter into their spirit and put
himself in the place of one of them.

To live in terror of demons, to hold idols in superstitious
awe, to dwell amidst universal distrust, to be possessed of
an all-absorbing lust for gambling and wealth ; to hold the
past as greater than the present, and the present as superior
to that of any other people ; to consider a lie as better than the
truth and yet be the acme of politeness and courtesy ; to
be democratic in policy and live under an absolute monarchy, —
this is a condition of affairs only possible to be apprehended
by one whose ancestors, as well as himself, have been born and
have lived in such environments.

Only the past held them together. Their present was a
rope of sand. The government did not trust the people ; the
people did not trust each other ; a man did not trust his
wife ; a teacher did not trust his pupil. A man so hypnotized
himself that he would believe his*own deception. They did not
believe it possible to surpass or even equal the days of Yao
and Shun.

Yet they were so madly prejudiced in favor of their
own country, manners, maxims, and religions that they could
not conceive of anything, not Chinese, as deserving the
slightest regard.

486 The Cliinese Recorder. [September,

THK NEW CONDITIONS.

A universal desire for change has taken hold of China.
An unprecedented exodus of students has poured into Japan on
the quest for modern learning. 8,000 students have gone there
in the last two years. The ancient examination system and
its attendant literary chancellor have both gone to a time-
honored rest. New schools on modern lines have sprung
up over the entire empire. A course of study carrying the
pupil from the primary department to the finished college
graduate has been put forth with government seal of authority.
There is an unlimited demand for competent teachers at inflated
salaries, and many incompetent and unworthy men are posing
as teachers.

The government is being made to understand that it
no longer exists for the selfish interests of its rulers. Officials,
the bureau of Foreign Aifairs, the Imperial Household itself are
being criticised. Bribery, squeezing, and misappropriation
of funds meet with public protest. The Empress-Dowager is
learning that naval, military, and railroad funds are not for the
beautifying of her parks.

The spirit of patriotism is being born. The American
boycott is the result of its first wail. Demands for a national
constitution and reorganization of the army are being answered.
The new type of soldier is marching to the melody of national
hymns.

Foot-binding, the queue, forms of clothing, kinds and
quality of foods, female education, style of architecture,
extraterritoriality, all are becoming popular questions for
discussion.

Idolatry is being questioned, atheism is finding fruitful
.soil in certain quarters, and Japanese literature on these subjects
is being widely read. Christianity is being criticised and
compared. The missionary is no longer an object of curiosity
or of general hatred. He, too, is being inspected, and wherever
he shows a sympathetic attitude and willingness to help, he is
given abundant opportunity for influencing the higher classes.

HOW HAVE THESE NEW CONDITIONS BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT ?

Nearly two hundred years ago the first European vessel
in the interests of commerce, touched Chinese shores. One
hundred years ago Western enterprise began to press its

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 487

claims upon China. It has not done it gently. Diplomacy and
war have marked its triumphant progress. Its chariot wheels
rolled over dead bodies to gain its ends. Commercialism
has ever carried its conquests by force of arms and guile until
it has reached every part of the globe. Doors that were not
willingly opened have been violently battered down.

And yet commercialism alone could never have brought
about the changed conditions now arising in China. The
country is too large and the difficulties too insurmountable
for its methods. At best the trader could only have influenced
the coast and the territory bordering on the navigable rivers.
His traffic in opium and like evil commodities might have
reached farther, as evil habits and lust for wealth travel far
and fast, but commerce alone could not have brought about
the vast changes which so simultaneously have seized upon
the length and breadth of the land. The means of intercom-
munication are too slow, too disconnected, and too inadequate.

It is the missionary who has sown broadcast the seeds
of reform and progress. In his propagation of the Gospel
he has penetrated every portion of the land and turned the
searchlight of Christian civilization upon antiquated China,
compelling the Chinese in self-defense to compare their ancient
systems with modern nations. He has prepared and circulated
a vast literature, preached Christ and compared religions,
built hospitals, schools, churches, and established in their
midst a little world so different from theirs as to irresistibly
fascinate them.

A ceaseless stream of Chinese have passed through the
missionary compounds. They have seen strange flowers, fruits,
and vegetables ; stoves, chairs, and pictures ; saddles, bicycles,
and modern tools of all sorts. They have grouped themselves
about the stereopticon and felt the thrill of the electric current.
Demonstrations in chemistry and physics have shattered the
walls of their superstitions. Medical and surgical work -have
filled them with wonder and gained their involuntary com-
mendation. They have seen home relationships sanctified and
refined by Christian love and their hearts have been strangely
stirred with longings for such blessings.

The missionary has been the advance agent of civilization.
The spirit of the Gospel and not the spirit of enterprise has
transformed China. And now in recognition of this fact,
to those hundreds of Christian centres scattered throughout

488 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

the land are the Chinese coming and pleading that, since
by them China has been aroused from her long sleep, they
shall use this Christian influence to succor her as she treads
the unknown paths up to the position of an honored nation,
respected by all the world.

HOW SHALL MISSIONARIES MEET THIS NEW REPONSIBILITY ?

I. We should have a clear conception of the relationship
between Christianity and our own government.

Side by side with the churches. Christian associations,
colleges, hospitals, asylums, humane and philanthrophic
institutions, are the saloons, brothels, gambling halls, race
courses, with the divorce courts, strikes, trusts, and a perpetual
line of schemes for defrauding and debasing men. The question
arises in the unsophisticated mind whether Christianity has really
done what is claimed for her by her adherents in the uplifting
of mankind. How is it that these evil institutions still flourish
and flaunt their defiance in the face of the church ? Is she
after all the root of modern progress? Does not this position
rightfully belong to commerce and learning, law and invention ?

Commerce and law are not necessarily selfish and evil,
but it is a notorious fact that where they have been kept free
from these stains it has been because of the restraining influence
of the Gospel. They would have wrecked civilization and
their own works many times over in their mad worship of
power and the "almighty dollar" but for the leavening
presence of Christianity.

The Church of Christ has not built fleets of merchantmen
nor fleets of war vessels. Neither has she laid railroads or
invented electric communication, but she has inspired men
and guided these works into proper channels until she is
moulding the world into one great brotherhood.

She has not dictated and enacted laws, but has demanded
that those enacted by our legislative bodies shall be righteous
and just to all men. She has not nominated men for public
ofiices, but has required of those filling such offices a service
for the welfare of the people. She has diffused knowledge
and righteousness among the common people until evil doers are
slow to disregard the demands for good government. By her
arbitration has been established and the ban placed on war.

Christianity has built colleges, freed the press, encouraged
original research, separated science from superstition and

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 489

crowned unselfish philanthropy. She has forever stood against
lust and greed that would break hearts, desolate homes, destroy
lives, ruin nations ; aud while pitted against these spiritual
hosts of wickedness, she has still had strength to transform
the face of the earth by stupendous acts outrivalling the earthly
miracles of the Divine Head of the church.

2. We should have a Clear Conception of what Christianity
can do for China.

Without Christ China has been a failure. If any heathen
nation could have succeeded, China would have done so. She
fell heir to as high a code of ethics as perhaps has been
produced by uninspired man. Yet her history has been one
of steady decadence. Oppression, injustice, revolution, vice
and crime comprise the major part.

It has not been dissimilar to other heathen nations which
for nineteen hundred years Christianity has been transforming
and elevating. Short as has been the time in which the Gospel
has been preached in China, its success has been marked.
It has transformed the individual lives of Chinese. It has
elevated her w^omen and established communities, whose morals,
character and ambitions are above the level of their neighbors.

We can reasonably expect that it will affect this nation
as a whole in like manner as it has influenced other nations.
It has proven itself to be a virile enemy of treachery, deceit,
immorality, and injustice in their entrenched positions within
official circles. It will be so in China. It will deliver her
from the chains of superstition, the enemy of all progress
and reform. It will give wise leadership and wisdom to restrain
the masses from disorganized rebellion and foolish riots.

It will steady the blind rush for things Western, it will
make known the foundation and scope of a broad education
and will aid her to keep clear of the multitudinous snares
and pitfalls which line her path. It will develop a righteous
public opinion, by which iniquity in high places can be over-
thrown, and will foster a national honor which shall command
the respect of more advanced nations. Learning, commerce,
dignified standards of government have never been upheld
without a moral atmosphere, and morality has yet to be
maintained apart from Christianity.

3. We should keep clear from entangling Commercial
and Political Alliances.

In times past the Chinese have believed that the missionary

490 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

was an accredited agent of his government. They have viewed
the religious propaganda as merely a blind. It was not
surprising that they should hold this view when they saw the
missionary's power with his consul and in the yamen. This
mistaken idea has been a wall in the way of mission progress.
It has led evil characters to flock about the church while
the more honorable classes, whom we would win, have used
it as an excuse to stand aside with righteous indignation.

Now that the better classes are more than ordinarily
accessible to Christian influence, it behooves us to be still
more careful. The name of the church is just as great a
talisman as ever in the yamen, and the church members
are finding out that with many officials not even the card
of the foreigner is necessary to work the charm. The mission-
ary is obliged to not only not use his influence with the officials
in legal cases but also to restrain his adherents from using
their connection with the church for like purposes.

At the present time the temptation to use this power
over the yamen is coming to missionaries and Chinese Christians
in a very subtle way. A great field for investment is opening
up in China. If old custom is followed the making of an
investment of any size means the spending of some money
in the yamen. Especially is it necessary where complications
arise and influence is needed. Since the name of the church
is so potent in the yamen members are not slow to mention
their connection. It expedites business and is cheaper.

The missionary likewise sees the opportunity for investing
money in projects which are safe and may feel that his duty to
his family warrants bis so doing. It is a dangerous thing
to do. Between peoples of so diverse customs as the foreigner
and the Chinese it is impossible to avoid friction, and that
is the thing that a missionary should seek to avoid. Invest-
ments mean money to collect and accounts to render. Where
land is being bought there will be graves to move. There will
be disputed titles and old claimants. Chinese neighbors must
be considered and satisfied. Custom will support the claims of
still farther removed but interested parties. The missionary
will find his time being wasted by entangling complications.
He will became irritated and perhaps arbitrarily brush away
all minor claims without recognition.

But the Chinese are slow to forget. They will see a wide
divergence between the missionary and his propaganda and

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 491

perhaps lose respect for both. On the other hand, the
missionary will hav^ less interest in, and love for, the Chinese
whom he has come to convert and, more serious still, will
lose his enthusiasm for mission work. He is taking the first
steps on the path which has led to the wrecking of many a
missionary career. No man can serve two masters. Our
strength and enthusiasm should be spent in seizing the
opportunity for winning China to Christ and we should not
be dallying with things which are liable in the end to defeat
the very aim of missionary activity.

4. We should strengthen our Educational Work.

The Chinese government has prepared a fine course of
study, carrying the pupil from the first day in the primary
department to the end of a finished college course. Buildings
have been erected throughout the empire and filled with eager
students. Did these things make schools, they assuredly
would have splendid ones. Nevertheless, in the majority of
cases they have come short of their high standard. The
students are possessed with the idea that a superficial knowledge
of English, arithmetic and geography comprises the sum
total of a Western education. Too many of the teachers are
more interested in the amount of their salary than in the
character and reputation of their school. Ev^en the directors
have not yet freed themselves from the lust for spoils.

The Chinese gentry are painfully cognizant of these
failings, and the result is that the mission schools are not
wanting in applicants who are willing to pay for their
education. They have lost the fear of Christian influence,
nay more are beginning to dimly realize that without the
moral atmosphere of Christianity it is impossible to maintain
a high standard of education.

To fully utilize this opportunity our colleges should be
well-manned with fully qualified foreign and Chinese teachers,
with large grounds and sufficient buildings to meet the demands.
The laboratory, gymnasium, museum, and classroom should
be well equipped. Only such students should be admitted
as are willing to obey the rules of the school and complete
a prescribed course of study. The production of young men
and women not only whose secular education is thorough but
whose moral standing is above reproach, should be our concern.
A school, the large per cent, of whose graduates are Christians,
will not lose in reputation or popularity.

492 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

There is a diversity of opinion as to the advisability of
mission day-schools. Teachers with proper qualifications are
hard to find. The Chinese are themselves opening excellent
modern schools. Parents are often unwilling to pay fees to
missions for primary education. For such reasons some would
surrender this field to the Chinese. The trouble is that too many
missionaries have been content with opening day-schools after the
ancient Chinese style and grafting in Scripture instruction. The
standard has been too low and the mistake is becoming apparent.

A Christian day-school should have a modern graded course
of study leading up to our higher schools. It should be presided
over by a Christian teacher, who is not only familiar with the
branches of study outlined in the course but who has been
tau/jht how to teach. The school-room should be well lighted
and have a cement or other kind of floor raised well above the
ground. The room should contain substantial desks and seats ;
a fireplace for winter ; blackboards, wall maps, and charts.

The teacher should have a clock and grant regular recesses
to the pupils for recreation and gymnastics. The missionary in
charge should see that these outdoor moments are profitably
spent, both watching the physical training and introduoing
healthful new games. It takes patient hard work to reach high
standards, but unless that be the aim the opening of mission
day-schools is questionable. The Church of Christ should lead,
not follow, the Chinese in these matters.

5. Normal and Scientific Institutt^^s can be profitably
conducted.

One reason why so many of the Christian day-schools have
been of the mediocre grade is the difficulty of procuring
competent teachers. The Chinese are meeting with the
same difficulty. The various mission bodies should set aside
competent men, who would give from two to four months each
year in conducting normal schools for teachers. The progressive
Chinese would welcome such an opportunity and Christian
influence would thereby be extended far beyon'd the confines
of the mission circles. Western branches of strady are not so
difficult for them to master as the science of teaching.

Courses in chemistry, physics, electricity and other sciences
have proven very popular wherever introduced. The work of
Dr. Wilson in West China and Dr. Whitewright in Shantung
can be instanced to demonstrate the value of sach work as a
missionary agency. It pays and pays well.

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 493

Where so much time cannot be given, an hour a day with
a circle in class work, or weekly lectures, have been most
profitable in results. A library can be opened, and a reading
room, furnished with the best secular and Christian magazines,
will draw the students. A suggested course of reading may be
outlined and posted on the walls near the library shelves.

A very simple museum can be started anywhere. An
endless variety of illustrations may be obtained from magazines,
Perry pictures, etc. Mount these upon cards of uniform size.
Label them in Chinese and catalogue them in files. Illustrated
catalogues on almost every conceivable industry can be obtained
for the postage, and the pictures from these may be likewise
mounted and placed on exhibition. The stereopticon, stereo-
scope, and polyopticon will greatly add to the efficiency of such
a museum. Mechanical toys, models of machinery, colored wall
charts, etc., may be added according to the means at one's
disposal.

Experiments along these lines in various parts of the
empire have shown that the hitherto unopened door into the
hearts of the literati can be readily opened and a powerful
influence for righteousness exerted. And the best of it is that
these same means for reaching those hitherto inaccessible
classes only add to the efficiency of day-school work. They can
be used with equal force in strengthening the Christians and in
winning the masses.

6. Bible Institutes and Conferences, both Local and
General, shoulcj be maintained for the strengthening of the
Christians.

The points mentioned above have been looking toward
meeting the conditions arising in China at this time when she
is seeking to bring herself into line with other nations. The
strengthening of the Chinese church is equally looking toward
this end. It must be given a position of respect and dignity if
Christian missions are to obtain a place of esteemed influence
in this land.

The rank and file of the church are of the common classes.
The majority of the Chinese ministry are also poorly educated.
The whole is too dependent upon the beck and nod of the
foreign missionary. The Christians have not developed
independent, thought and action. Hence there is very little
attraction for the literary classes to join hands with them in a
Christian fellowship. It would not be a fellowship.

494 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

The missionary has had to give much time to evangelistic
labors, ai:d little time has been left to develop the church. He
has done a maximum amount of individual work and a minimum
amount of executive directing. The congregation have been
filled with spiritual bread week by week, but no opportunity has
been afforded to develop spiritual muscle.

At the present moment tliere is a special necessity for more
training, more guiding, more sending forth on the part of the
missionary, and less pioneering, less dictating. More respon-
sibility should be placed upon the Christians and greater
liberty of action given them.

It has been surprising how readily they enter the spirit
and bear their part of the burden of the church. Leaders
arise who officer conventions with dignity. Christians readily
adopt orderly methods in discussion of business. Great bless-
ing and joy comes, as gathering together from the various
stations they begin to realize the extent of the work and the
privilege of fellowship with Christ in service.

Gathering the evangelists together in Bible institutes year
by year has inspired them, the churches, and the missionary
himself. We have been led into new fields of Biblical research
as we have prepared lectures for this unusual audience. It has
saved us from drifting into narrow channels. The evangelists
have been taught how to preach, how to win men, how to study
the Word of God, and how to maintain a close walk with
God. Bible history, geography, literature, and the history of
the Christian church have been presented to them in a way
impossible to be gained through books. They go back to the
little circles of Christians refreshed and full of zeal.

These institutes should be carried to the stations and
adapted to the local needs, using the evangelists as lecturers
and teachers, thus giving them an opportunity to impart in a
simple manner w^hat they have themselves received from the
general institute. The Christians thus gathered together once
or twice a year will be with patience led up to a position
commanding the respect of their nation. In such ways will
they be fitted to assume the responsibility of the future church
of China.

7. We should earnestly advocate and work for Christian
Union.

If the great church on earth lacks one thing more than
another in making her conquest sure, it is union ; union in

1906.] How can we best meet the New Conditions? 495

plan, union in action, union in spirit. How the Great Captain
has been able to lead the disordered ranks of Christendom on to
the victories already won, is beyond the ken of man. Assuredly
nothing short of divine power could have done it. How great
must be the joy that thrills His heart as, sitting on high, He
witnesses the ever quickening movement on the part of His
disciples toward the fulfillment of His last prayer !

The application of His methods and spirit to the redeeming
of this land of Sinim is very vital to us and the extension of
His kingdom. How can three thousand 7nissionaries meet the
arrogance of shallow reformers, the floods of atheism, the intellec-
tual libertinism among four hundred viillions except we be
welded by the Spirit into one body in Christ ? By no other
means can one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight.
And yet how disjointed has been the history of China missions !
A dozen societies have plunged into one inviting field, tramp-
ling upon each other, arousing discord and jealousy while great
unoccupied fields were awaiting the conquest of a united church.

If we affect the new era in China to any great degree it
will be done by a union of Christian forces. We are ceasing to
emphasize points of difference which so long have divided us.
It is time to begin the emphasizing of points of agreement, and,
as rapidly as grace is received, plan for an equal distribution of
stations. The numerous Christian schools should join hands
and hearts and at proper educational centres raise up union
colleges that will command the recognition of the Chinese
government and be worthy of the cause of Christian missions.
Let our medical men cease undertaking each independently to
encompass the whole field of medical activity. By a union of
the work and a specializing in chosen lines, fewer mistakes will
be made and greater efficiency maintained. New missions
should cease entering already occupied places and older missions
should willingly act as base for any such who will press on into
interior and neglected fields.

The Chinese soldiers are rapidly losing their former
uncouth, irregular, heterogeneous ways and emerging into a
modern, orderly, definite body. The church would do well to
learn a lesson thereby. Come away from the old quarrels and
divisions of a hoary past. Fall into the ranks befitting the
leadership of Jesus Christ. Yield ourselves to the will of God
and the domination of the Holy Spirit and we will win China
for Christ.

496

The Chinese Recorder.

[September*

Church Praise Department.

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1906.] Church Praise Department. 497

Pentatonic Music: Some Suggestions and
Experiences.

BY REV. J. E. WALKER, SHAOWU.

IN sending you herewith an original pentatonic tune, I
would like to add a few words of explanation.

(i). If I thought there was any necessary rivalry
between pentatonic tunes and heptatonic ones, I would hardly
wish to encourage the use of the former ; but it seems to me
that the difference between Chinese music and Western music
is not limited to this difference in scales ; and I look upon
pentatonic tunes, constructed on Western models, as helpful in
the introduction of Western music.

(2). Of course we ought to, and we do, persistently drill the
pupils in our boarding-schools in the Western scale and the
Western tunes ; also, such institutions should be well-supplied
with organs, at least *'baby organs,'* and bright pupils be
encouraged to practice on these.

(3). I never, if I can help it, sing with a Chinese audience
without some sort of instrument to back up my voice and keep
it true. The first time that I undertook to lead and train a
Chinese audience, I secured the help of* a double-reed cabinet
organ ; and then, with both stops out, I played the air with both
hands in unison ; and as there were several other missionaries
with good, strong, true voices, the main volume of sound was
right, both as to tune and time. This did not work an im-
mediate revolution in the singing of that audience ; but it did
seem to be the begin^iing of better things.

(4). The pentatonic scale can afford only imperfect har-
mony ; and if we are going to give our pupils and students
thorough instruction in music, of course we must have the full
scale. Playing the air, ouly, with both hands in unison, is
good for tackling a raw audience ; but playing the full harmony
certainly helps to educate the ear of pupils to appreciate the
half tones.

(5). These pentatonic tunes which we make, are offered as
substitutes for tunes which are the pick of their kind in the
West ; some of them gems of the first water. Once I was

498 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

teaching two preachers, with better ears for music than the
average, the tune known as "Portuguese Hymn," or "Ade?te
Fideles"; and when they called it hard, I tried a pentatonic
tune (one of my own make), and they sang it quite correctly.
But they said : " Yes, this is easier ; but it doesn't sound so good
as the other.'' One of our ablest men, who has a fairly good
ear for music, was delighted with the tune "Sicily" or
"Mariners," the first time he heard it ; but he cannot sing it
half right. Some of our advanced pupils, however, can sing it,
so that it is good to hear.

(6). In this field the Chinese have been left a good deal to
themselves, and they have made some changes even in our
pentatonic tunes. Thus in " Balerma " they sing the latter
half of the first line the same as the latter half of the third line,
and give the second word in the second line the same slur as
the fourth word. In Lowell Mason's tune "Rockingham"
they sing the second and fourth lines exactly alike, and in
grand old "Sessions" they sing the first and second half
of the first line the same ; and they do likewise with the
second line. In fact these modifications which we introduce
into similar parts of a tune for variety, and which add much
to the attractiveness of a tune with us, seem to be of no use
to them.

(7). Have you observed the large use made of slurs, or
ties, in Chinese music ? These are needed as a compensation
for the restrictions imposed by the paucity of the pentatonic
scale. I think the slurs are what give ^'Sicily" such a charm
to Chinese ears ; and it was with this in mind that I constructed
the accompanying tune on a plan which used slurs at regular
intervals.

(8). My first attempt at a pentatonic tune for the Chinese
was made over thirty years ago ; and for myself, I do not think
much of it as a tune ; but it is much sung by our Christians ;
and up here they have modified it. They do not like to
sing succeeding words on the same note. I have made,
in all, about a score of pentatonic tunes, not all of them
alike successful ; but when recently I overheard one of our
preachers sit down to a "baby organ" and play three of
my tunes in succession, I felt that I had not blundered in
making them.

The air of my first tune runs thus : —

1906.]

Church Praise Department.

499

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ffc /i ». $c « ± ^ is tt. e

I will also venture to add some parts of this tune, as they
are apt to sing it when left to themselves.

il^^Pi^

But perhaps the most striking case of a tune made over by
the Chinese occurred at Foochow. The first time I heard it, I
supposed that it was a Chinese tune. The first three lines run

thus : —

But the pupil who played and sang it to us said he had
learned it from a pupil in the school of another mission, who had
been taught it by a young lady of that mission ; and I append
herewith the same three lines of what I take to be the origmal
Western tune and words.

li^isissgiaM^a^

" Here we suffer grief and pain.
Here we meet to part again ;
In heaven we'll part no more.

* Here ^ jfiifi with two even tones is more rhythmical than _h ^, which
would make six ch'ii-sheng.

500 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the " Educational Association of China."

Educational Problems of To-day.

BY REV. J. A. SILSBY.

THEY are different in many respects from those which
confronted us twenty years ago. At that time the
average mission boarding-school was just emerging
from its old position of a free institution in which pupils
received board, tuition, books and even clothes without cost to
themselves or parents. They were indentured for a term of
years, or until they were twenty-one, and in only a few schools
was there a regular curriculum with a certificate of graduation
at the end. • The larger number of schools did not give a
prominent place to the teaching of English. Many excluded it
entirely from the course, and others gave two or three lessons a
week or taught it only to a few who paid for it as an ' * extra. ' *
Chinese classics and religious books were the principal studies.
Most schools furnished a fairly good drill in mathematical
studies and there' was given some instruction in geography and
elementary science. There were a few colleges and high
schools which were giving a pretty thorough education in
Western learning, but they could be counted on the fingers of
one hand.

In those days there was little competition from other
schools. The schools which taught "Western learning" were
almost all under mission control, and the missionary often spent
only a small share of his time in superintendence.

At that time there was no National Educational Associa-
tion, and while the School and Text-book Series Committee had
made a good beginning in the publication of text-books, there
was a great lack of suitable books, especially for the primary
and intermediate schools.

And yet these schools did good work. They were greatly
superior to the Chinese schools, and they educated many who

1906.] Educational Department. 501

have been very useful as teachers and preachers, and many who
are now occupying leading positions in the church, in our
educational institutions and in the business world.

The financial problem was comparatively easy twenty years
ago. The mission boards were willing to furnish the money
needed for the support of students, and the expenses were com-
paratively small. Board cost about $1.50 Mex. a month.
Clothing conld be furnished for less than a dollar a month.
Buildings could be erected cheaply, and the furniture and
apparatus cost comparatively little. Teachers could be employed
for $10.00 a month. A few received more; many received less.
There were plenty of graduates from boarding-schools who were
glad to teach for $5.00 a month during the first year or two.

There is a great change in this respect. Board has doubled
in cost and the cost of clothing is much more than doubled.
Buildings and their equipment must be modern structures and
well equipped with modern furniture and apparatus. Teachers
are hard to get at double the price formerly paid, and many are
receiving from $50.00 to $100.00 a month in Chinese schools.
The books of each pupil cost probably ten times as much as
twenty years ago, and a school of fifty pupils would require four
or five times as large an appropriation as twenty years ago if it
were not for the fact that the large majority of our pupils (at
least in the boys' schools) now pay board and tuition and
furnish their own books and clothes. The financial problem is
thus made easier of solution, and the Chinese themselves are
coming to our help with increasing contributions which en-
able us to look forward with confidence to the time when the
financial burden will be very largely borne by them.

Schools must be kept up to a higher grade than before.
There is a demand for thoroughly trained teachers, both English
and Chinese, and the Chinese are taking an increasing interest
in the teaching of their own language, using modern methods
and trained teachers. They demand scientific instruction, and
such branches as drawing and music and physical drill are
found in the course of study marked out by the officials who
have the educational interests of the Empire committed to them.
Mission schools must meet these demands and must furnish as
good a course of study as the best. We cannot furnish inferior
instruction and expect our schools to retain the sons of our
Christian Chinese — much less can we expect pupils from the
non-Christian public. A Christian school should not only be

502 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

thoroughly Christian, but it should be thoroughly honest and
should maintain a higher standard of educational excellence
than the non-Christian school, just as a Christian carpenter
ought to do better work than one who is not. Twenty years
ago it was easy to have a better school than any which the
Chinese could offer. This is no longer the case. There is
competition on every side, and we must meet it. The govern-
ment is taking up the cause of education, and it may be that
before long our primary schools will be swallowed up by these
government schools as in Japan. We must meet the new
conditions and be ready to counteract the evil tendencies of
schools where religion is entirely excluded from the daily course
of instruction.

After all, the greatest problem with us who have charge of
mission schools is the religious one. We want to give the very
best education all along the line, but we want more than all to
influence our pupils for Christ. If their education is given over
to the service of the devil our schools will indeed be failures.
The financial problem we can manage. The problem of pre-
paring a first-class curriculum and even the problem of securing
the necessary teachers is not such a difficult one as the problem
of counteracting the worldly tendencies of the present age. I
do not think that this is a greater problem than it was before.
Twenty years ago it was comparatively easy to secure teachers
and preachers from our schools, and nearly all our graduates
joined the church before they left us. This does not necessarily
mean that there was then a more decided religious influence
exerted than at the present time. There was then compara-
tively little opportunity to secure employment outside the
mission ; for the pupils of that time were poorly educated in
marketable branches. They served the mission often because
they had no offers from other quarters. There were then and
there are now exceptional men who make worldly gain a matter
of secondary importance, but I believe that the moral stamina
of the Chinese Christian worker of to-day is superior to that of
the average twenty years ago and that the Christian influence
of our schools is as decidedly Christian as before. There must
be a better way than that of depending upon indigent students
who are bound down by indentures to remain for a term of
years in mission employ, or who "enter the priesthood for a
piece of bread," and because they have not the ability to fill
secular positions which offer large salaries.

1906.] Educational Department. 503

After all, the problem is not such a difficult one. The
manner of its solution is easily pointed out, but the working
out of the problem is not so easy. If we who are in charge of
mission schools were men of more power in prayer, and if our
spirituality were greater and our earnestness and consecration
more apparent, and if those who criticize and find fault and
lament the degeneracy of the times, would help us by more
earnest prayer and by coming into personal contact with our
pupils, helping us in religious meetings and inviting our older
pupils to go out with them now and then to share in some
form of religious enterprise, much could be done without
interfering with the regular duties of the student by those who
are engaged in the more direct evangelistic work. The routine
of school work is often a temptation to religious lethargy and
the teacher needs the stimulating assistance of the evangelists,
but there is very little stimulus to most men in fault-finding or
pessimistic lamentation. It provokes, but not to love and good
works. Most of those who are in charge of mission schools are
men and women of earnest purpose and sincerely desirous, not
only of maintaining a high standard of educational excellence,
but also of influencing their pupils for Christ, and they ought to
have the prayerful, loving sympathy and help of all their
co-laborers in mission effort.

Conference on Girls' Schools at Mo-kan-shan.

July 26th.

IT is certainly very interesting to note how different are the
questions now considered at a conference on girls' schools
to the questions discussed fifteen years ago at the first
meeting of the Educational Association.

Then workers discussed the difficulty of creating sentiment
against foot-binding and of enforcing the rule against the
practice in our schools, which is nqw no question at all. Some
women, whose feet are hopelessly small from long years of
binding, often buy large shoes and fill with cotton to hide their
deformity, and in some localities bound feet are the reproach
and large feet at a premium.

At a conference, some years ago, a Chinese pastor of wide
experience and ability expressed himself as much concerned
about the future of the girls then in our Mission boarding-

504 The Chinese Recorder. [September

schools. Mothers-in-law, he said, would not want these large-
footed, too much educated girls, and there was very little pros-
pect of their all being able to find respectable employment
where they might earn their living. These same girls are now
so highly desired as daughters-in-law and wives that all are
married, except two or three who steadfastly refused to be
married, and positions in hospitals and schools are fairly thrust
upon every educated young woman who is free to take a position.

Formerly hours and days were spent discussing whether we
should or should not teach English, but there is no discussion
on this question now. English must be taught, whether we
will or no.

The question of school finances was the first taken up at
the Mo-kan-shan Conference with Mrs. Mattox as leader, and it
seemed evident from her remarks and the discussion which
followed that the problem now is not so much how to get money
for the running expenses of a school, for many parents are able
and willing to pay well for the education of their daughters, but
it is how the self-respecting poorer middle class girls are to
receive the Christian education they ought to have without, in a
way, losing that self-respect or being pauperized. At this junc-
ture the very important question of industrial departments in our
schools was brought up, but merely touched upon because there is
such an appalling lack of workers in the girls' schools that those
present had had neither time nor strength to put into practice
their theories on this subject, and missionaries generally are tired
of listening to the expounding of theories which are nothing but
theories. The question is, ' ^ What have you seen and done and
known" not *'What do you think can be or ought to be done?"

Miss Ricketts read a paper on Union in educational work
and how far it is practicable between different stations of the
same mission or different missions in the same locality. It was
shown that such union is desirable, and it is to be hoped that the
two Presbyterian Missions in Hangchow may see the way clear
to unite in carrying on one really good girls' school instead
of the two now being carried on by the different missions, but
it is not to be expected that such a union of forces would result
in any economy of funds or workers, but that it would result in
a much better quality of work, a school of better standing and
the using of funds to better advantage.

The subject of Miss Lois Lyon's paper was, ** Are our pupils
really students ? " or "Do they learn to think independently ? "

1906.] Educational Department. 505

and she ably set forth the comparative value of the different
branches of study and the different methods of teaching, but it
was very plain from the paper, and the discussion which
followed, that both teachers and pupils are most wofully handi-
capped by this unwieldly antiquated system of Chinese hieroglyph-
ics, which instead of being a means of communicating
thought, is an effectual paralyzer of thought.

This might be discouraging, but we remember that the
problems of fifteen years ago are so nearly solved that we spend
no time on them now, and we are more than hopeful that this
enemy of real progress will also melt away before the glance of
the Lord and that perhaps in a nearer future than we think God
will lead the Chinese people to adopt some alphabetic method
of writing and printing. Then and not till then may it be
expected that a Chinese pupil can give more than one thought
to the subject matter of a book compared with the ten or twenty
efforts necessary to become familiarized with the hieroglyphics
in which the subject matter is hidden instead of being expressed.

Miss Rollestone gave a paper on the religious life in our
schools, which she well said is the end and aim of all our effort.

She gave very helpful suggestions in regard to Christian
Endeavor and kindred societies, and special mention was made
of the blessed work God has given the evangelist, Miss Yii, of
Soochow, to do in our schools where she has visited. The hope
was expressed that from those now in the girls* schools of our
missions there shall be raised up an army of workers who, filled
with the Holy Spirit and love for perishing souls will, like Miss
Yii, gladly go forth at the Lord's bidding to do or to suffer
according to His blessed will.

Mr. Shoemaker, Miss Lindholm, Mrs. Millard, Dr. Lee,
Mrs. Parker, Mr. Mattox, Dr. Hayes, Mr. Silsby, Miss Posey
and others took part in the discussions, which made this confer-
ence most interesting and helpful.

It was specially encouraging to note the number of men
who were present and took part in the discussions for there is
no better way to "help those wome'n " than to thus express the
belief that the Christian education of the women and girls of
the church is a very important department of the work of
spreading the Gospel and one in which all are interested.

Miss Cogdal presided, and the conference was opened with
prayer by Rev. Leighton Stewart and closed with prayer by
Miss Silver.

506 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

Education in Chihli.

A RECENT issue of the Nan-fang-pao contains the follow-
ing article, which we think will be of special interest
to missionary educators throughout China and indeed
to all who may be interested in the progress of education in this
country: —

We give below the substance of a memorial by Viceroy Yuan
Shih-kai, on the subject of schools and educational matters in
Chihli. He states that soon after his arrival in the province in
the 28th year of Kuang Hsu, he ordered the establishment of
schools in the provincial capital and all the districts, besides the
Educational Board, the university, normal, middle and primary
schools in Tientsin. During the ensuing year the Minister
of Education issued certain regulations which have since been
properly put into operation. Owing to tact and good management
the public are. now familiar with modern education, and many
schools are kept running at the private expense of gentry and
merchants. The following is a return of all schools now open in
Chihli :—

The Peiyang University.

The High College at Paotingfu.

The Peiyang Medical College.

The Industrial High School.

The Agricultural High School, Agricultural and Industrial Primary

Schools ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 21

The Normal High Schools, Normal and other Training Schools ... 89

Middle Schools , 27

Advanced Schools 182

Primary Schools 4,162

The Women's Normal School.

Girls' Schools 40

Yamen Runners' Schools 18

The Strangers' School.

The Tracing and Mathematics School.

The Telegraph College.

The number of students shown in the record is 86,653 \ those
of the "Half-day" and "Half-night" schools not being included.
The total number, including military and police students, amounts
to 100,000. At the outset the new learning was strange to the
people, though both officials and gentry regarded the modern schools
with the same respect as that accorded the old system. Rumours
were circulated to hinder the progress of modern education, but
lecture halls, reading rooms, and other institutions have been
established which have produced a marked change in public
thought. Now that a special Educational Commissioner has been
appointed, the memorialist recommends that in future all matters
in connection with educational affairs be referred to him and he
be consulted only in case of important business.

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 507

Apropos of the above memorial, an account of educational
matters in Chihli, recently written by the Peking correspondent of
the Morning Post, will be found of unusual interest. This correspon-
dent wrote : —

" The educational results achieved by Yuan Shih-kai in Chihli
province are almost as remarkable and important as the creation
of the new army. The mere number of new schools is astonishing.
In each of the 124 districts of the province there are already about
twenty primary schools with thirty boys at each. In these schools
only Chinese is taught, but in place of the old method of dinning
long portions of abstruse classics into the memory of the boys, with-
out explanation of meaning, an attempt is being made to give a
more simple course of instruction in the reading and writing of
practical Chinese.

Each district has also one low and one high grade elementary
school with an average attendance of fifty boys in each who, in addi-
tion to the study of their language, are started in history, geography,
arithmetic, and simple science. A middle school has been founded
in each of the sixteen prefectural cities, where the study of English
is begun, together with more advanced courses of science and
mathematics. At Pao-ting-fu there is a provincial college where
320 students are given a still higher grade of education. Finally,
there is the Peiyang University at Tientsin with 200 members,
mainly students who had begun Western education before 1900,
each of whom, besides general work, chooses a special subject,
enters on a course of technical study, law, mining, or engineering,
and also selects one European language in addition to English,
already begun in the middle schools. As the system develops,
other courses will be added. At present all advanced instruction
is in English, but translations of important text-books are being
made at the Kiangnan Arsenal, Shanghai, and some of these are
already used. Altogether 86,000 boys and students are now being
educated in Chihli province on modern lines.

Another strikmg feature is the degree of organisation shown.
Primary schools are started by the local gentry and village elders ;
elementary schools by the officials of the district, who raise the
funds from the endowments of old temples and examination halls,
and from duties on articles of local consumption. The teachers are
trained in a normal college at Pao-ting-fu under Japanese instructors.
In the higher schools the masters are, as a rule, ex-students of the
old Tientsin University and Naval College, destroyed in 1900,
while in the present university, outside the Chinese staff, there are
seven foreigners headed by Dr. Tenney, an American, who was
called in by Yuan Shih-kai after the Boxer rising to develop
the new education. To him mucTi of the successful organisa-
tion is due, but without the efficient provincial administration set
up by the Viceroy his efforts could never have achieved such
results.

The most striking and suggestive feature in the new schools is
the attention given to developing national and military sentiment.
Physical training is an important part of the curriculum. In the
lower schools there is simple drill ; in the higher colleges the
students wear uniform and are given manual exercises with the rifle

508 The Chinese Recorder. [September,

and put through military evolutions. The new text-books now
being put into their hands are very striking in the ideas they incul-
cate. They impress on the youth of China the dut}'- of developing
the power of their country ; they show that military weakness has
brought bitter humiliations in the past ; they preach the doctrine
that the ease and life of individuals must be readily sacrificed to
national interests ; they draw a telling comparison between the
military power of the nations of the West and the feeble condition of
China; and they point out how Prussia and Japan, once small and
weak, have risen to security and power through the self-denying
patriotism of their peoples.

Another interesting point is that not only is all teaching free,
but in the higher schools the students are boarded and clothed at
public expense, thus opening the new education to the poorest
families. However, it is probable that this practice will be done
away with before long, as popular keenness for the new learning
needs no incentive.

It is, of course, necessary to realise that the system is nat yet
in full working order.

In the first place the teaching is still of poor quality in many
schools ; time is necessary to develop an efiicieut supply of teachers,
and as many of the students have received little modern education
in the past the work in the higher colleges is still, to a large extent,
preparatory. Several years will be required to get the different
parts of the system adjusted, and for some time each grade has to
scrape along with temporary arrangements. When the organisation
is complete, boys will be passed up from grade to grade by a definite
course of examinations. At present nearly three years must elapse
before any students will be fit to graduate from the University.
Outside the regular school system the Viceroy has also established,
mainly under Japanese direction, academies for military and political
officers, and agricultural, medical, and veterinary colleges.

The members of the foreign staff at the University speak
most highly of the Chinese student's industry and eagerness to
learn. In subjects like mathematics and science he shows striking
intelligence ; in every department his memory is astounding,
but at present he shows little inclination for, or power of, inde-
pendent thinking. He trusts to learning by heart rather than by
comprehension.

However the most serious tendency is a disregard for thorough-
ness, a desire to ** rush" education, to rest content with superficial
results ; a spirit bred by the same causes as his eagerness for the
new education. Many of the students have toiled through the
classical course, and they are unwilling to settle down to another
long period of study. In their eyes education is to be sought as
an avenue to ofiicial position. Their wish, therefore, is to hurry
through the course as rapidly as possible. This spirit is encouraged
by some of the Chinese and Japanese intructors for personal ends,,
and also by some of the members of the Educational Bureau, who,
after a short stay in Japan , imagine themselves masters of all Western^
learning. It remains to be seen if their confidence in their infal-
libility will be justified, or if, in their impatience, they wreck the
development which they are anxious to promote.

1906.]

Correspondence.

S09

Correspondence.

MISSIONARY HOME AT HANKOW.

To the Editor of

*'The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Will you please an-
nounce in the Recorder that the
Executive Committee of the Hu-
nan Missionary Association has
appointed several representatives
as members of a committee to be
formed by them upon conference
with Mission Societies in other
provinces having missionaries or
business passing through Han-
kow. The purpose of the com-
mittee is to secure in Hankow a
missionary home and business
agency. All persons interested
are requested to correspond
promptly with Rev. J. A. O.
Gotteberg, Chang-sha, Hunan.

Yours sincerely,

Geo. L. Gelwicks,
Secretary Executive Committee,
Hengchow, Hunau, August 20th, 1906.

A correction.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : While reading the
address delivered by Dr. A. J.
Brown on behalf of the Mission-
ary Boards at the banquet to
the Chinese Commissioners in
New York on February 2nd,
I came across this sentence : —
" We recall with pleasure that
when His Excellency Viceroy
Tuan Fang was Governor of
Hunan, he visited a mission
school, watched a game of foot-
ball, and kicked the ball him-
self." As I have taken part in
that game of foot-ball, I now
presume to make a little correc-
tion in this statement. In 1904
H. E. Tuan Fang was Acting

Viceroy of Hupeh and Hunan.
On Commencement Da^- of that
year he was requested by the
President of Boone College, Rev.
J. Jackson, to preside over the
exercise. It was after the
exercises when he went to the
play-ground, where he watched
a game of foot-ball and where
he kicked the ball himself. If
H. E. Tuan Fang had been
Governor of Hunan at that
time, Boone College would have
been thought of as a mission
school in Chang-sha. But she is
in Wuchang, and she has been
there for thirty-five years. Wish-
ing to give accuracy to this
incident, and at the same time to
do justice to my alma mater, I
now request you to insert this
note in the next number of your
valuable magazine.
I am, Sir,

Yours truly,

T. L. TsEN.
Ngankin, August 14, igo6.

SELF-DEPENDENCE IN THE
NATIVE church.

To tJie Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : The enclosed trans-
lation appeared as a leading
article in one of the Chinese
daily papers published in Shang-
hai, and is entitled, " The
Independent Church of Jesus."
Tlie publishing of such an article
in a Chinese daily, marks a
distinct advance in the progress
of Christianity in China, as it
acknowledges frankly that no
power of man can hinder the
flow of the "Hundred streams
that flow eastward," i.e., the
Christian church.

510

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

The tone of the article is such
that no foreign missionary will,
I think, take exception to it.
The offensive references and
veiled insult that marred the
" Trumpet Call to Independence,"
which was scattered broadcast at
Chinese New Year, do not appear
in this, and the object and pur-
pose of this organization is given
in kindlier words,

A careful reading of the article
will, I think, dispel the illusion
that this organization is only an
Associaiio7i and not a Church.
The fact that they are establish-
ing branch Chapels, effectually
disposes of the argument that it
is a movement similar to the
Christia7i Eiideavor or Epworth
League.

Personally, I wish the move-
ment every success, even if it
means the separation from our
Missions of many valued church
members. Our desire would be
rather to see independence grow
lip in the churches of China ;
but it may be that the dry rot
of dependence on the foreigner
has become so deeply rooted in
our churches that only a move-
ment such as this will arrest it.

The lesson we should learn
from this article is plain, i.e.,
let the native Christians manage
church affairs themselves and
avoid keeping them too long in
leading-strings.

I am, Sir,

Yours truly,

J. G. CORMACK.

London Mission, Shanghai,
August 22nd, 11,06.

THE INDEPENDENT CHURCH OF JESUS.

The Independent Church of Jesus
(or as some have chosen to call it,
"The Chinese Independent Associa-
tion)," begun by Mr. U Kueh-chen, of
Ningpo, and others, has now decided
to begin branch chapels in the fol-

lowing places in Shanghai district : —
Ming-Jwng , Ma-chiao, Chong -si-woo,
and in the Feng-hsien district — Natt'
chiao, Sn-li-chiao, and Tshing-ts'en-
kang, and they have memorialized
the Shanghai Taotai to instruct the
local officials to grant protection to
these. The Taotai has already noti-
fied the Prefect and District Magis-
trate as follows : —

" In examining the former cases of
religious riots I have found that want
of harmony between church and
people has always arisen from each
harbouring mutual distrust and jeal-
ousy. The said pastor and members
of this Independent Church make it
clear that their chief aim is to avoid
this division between church and
people, and have chosen peace and
harmony as their leading principle.
If lawsuits should arise and the cases
be brought up before the Magistrate,
they only ask that the rights and
wrongs of the case be considered, and
that the decision as to which is
straight and which is crooked be
given accordingly, and thus distrust
and suspicion will be dispelled, the
public interest will be helped, and the
good arising therefrom will not be
small.

" The memorial has been accepted
and a proclamation in accordance
granted, while the officials also have
been instructed to put out similar
proclamations. ' '

1. In detailing the progress of the
Christian religion in China, it is now
like a hundred streams flowing east-
ward, which cannot again be hindered
or stopped by the strength of man.

We ought to look upon the Chris-
tian religion as one of the chief
religions of the world, and therefore
we need not retain any alarming
thoughts about it, neither ought we to
consider means to hinder it. But in
regard to Westerners going into the
inland places to propagate the
religion, this is truly not so advan-
tageous as for Chinese themselves to
carry on missionary propaganda.
They will not cause the suspicions
that arise from a foreign accent and a
strange dress, as they will have the
customs and manners of their fellow-
countrymen. Ordinarily they will
not arouse distrust and suspicion, thus
the occasions of trouble arising will
be very rare.

2. Again, if the missionary propa-
ganda is carried on by Chinese, then
the people of the land will not
make distinctions between those who
have entered the church and those

1906.]

Correspondence.

511

who have not; for if they are not

regarded as relations they will at
least be regarded as neighbours. In
case of, meeting any difSculty by
retaining a little of the spirit of fair-
ness, will it not be possible to avoid
having a "right and left-handed"
distinction, or the appearance of a
favouritism which wrongly listens to
only one side of the story and does
not clearly understand the beginning
and end of the thing. Would not
this be a decided benefit?

3. Moreover, if the missionary is
a Chinese, he has lived under the
same sky and been supported by the
same ground and thus will be regard-
ed as a fellow countryman. Then
supposing there is any cause of
trouble, it will not involve us with
other nations which may bring loss of
land and power and the paying of
indemnities, even to the great injury
of international relationship and the
stirring up of national feeling. Such
things will not again be seen.

People who understand the times
and are saddened by the many
difficulties of the government, wish
to prepare before the rain has fallen
and avoid after-trouble. To rectify
the root and purify the source is the
reason for the establishment of the
Independent Church, and there should
therefore be no delay.

The name and aim of this Associa-
tion have already been made known,
but it is repeated below.

Name. — The Association is compos-
ed of the Chinese members of the
Christian church who are saddened
by the church lawsuits and grieved
by trouble from outside encroach-
ments, and who are endeavouring to
plan a scheme of deliverance.

All having thoughts of love to their
country and their church and with
a spirit of independence, have decided
to call the Association "The Chinese
Independent Church of Jesus. "

Purpose.— This Association, having
chosen the name " Independent," in
everything is to be free from depend-
ence on foreign help, to assist in the
avoidance of lawsuits, to make known
the aim of the church, to bring the
people into harmony, and trusting
only to fair methods attempt to en-
lighten the people and to preserve the
fair name of the church and the glory
of the nation. This is its motive.

The members of the different
churches should ^be without divisions
and without local narrowness, and
should take occasion to unite with
one mind and stir up the spirit of

independence and lay a strong self-
supporting foundation.

Formerly the Fukien daily paper,
in discussing the beginning of the
Association in Shanghai, with earnest
words pointed out the necessity for
such an Association, and moreover
gave reasons why the officials should
protect this Association.

These articles deeply stirred the
hearts of the people, and some of
the more important sentences are
given below : —

" Presuming on the power gained
after the Tientsin case, they (i.e., the
R.C. ) slowly pushed open the door,
until at last the government granted
permission to the Pope of the Romish
church to appoint a head of the
church in China, who should have
power to act in disputes between the
church and people, and this man was
given equal rank with a viceroy.
The priests of the said church, taking
advantage of this, presumed to act in
an improper manner and continually
opposed and resisted the local officials.
Being thus led, the church members
presumed on thfs power and became
more overbearing, and the Protestant
church was also involved in trouble
through this action of the Romish
church. Others, then, influenced by
this were led to copy them, until the
church was involved in great calami-
ty and the class of church followers
became much more depraved. Dur-
ing the past ten odd years there have
not been two or three sincere ones in
every ten who have entered the
church really desirous of understand-
ing the truth and wishing to lead a
conscientious life, having sincerely
repented of evil and turned to good.
The rest were simply depending on
the church's power to escape from
justice, pretending to walk this road
in order to accomplish their own
selfish designs, saying : * The govern-
ment is unable to manage things
properly.' But this last, whether
spoken by the foreigners or church
people, we cannot say."

According to this very strongly
wojded paragraph, it is plain that
hypocritical church members pre-
sume on the power of foreigners and
bring calamity on their country ;
hence the propriety and necessity of
establishing this Independent Church
cannot be gainsaid. The same article
goes on to say : " When the officials,
civil and military, see in their own
jurisdictions an Independent Church
of Jesus (i.e., free from foreign con-
trol), they will certainly use their

512

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

power to protect it and assist it to
peacefully carry on the propaganda,
and then those .desiring to believe
will feel at liberty to do so. Thus
all the places in our land where
there are Christian churches ought
to turn and copy the pattern and
strive to be independent, so that all
those false church members who are
only members for gain, will be unable
to accomplish their selfish schemes
and the disputes between church and
people will certainly vanish and as
a matter of course disappear."

Supposing the local officials do not
use their power to protect the church,
or are unskilful in their rule, so ihat
the Independent Church has difficul-
ties on every hand and is hampered
above and below and unable to turn to
Western Powers for protection, then
it will be difficult perhaps to put into

words the calamities the church nius
endure. According to this the In-
dependent Church should be protect-
ed, for it can be seen ho^ many
advantages it will bring.

The writer, who has collected the
foregoing, would dare to add one word
more. "The plan is not an empty
one, bnt it awaits that men should
carry it out,"

The establishment of the Independ-
ent church being accomplished,
church and people will be naturally
at peace, and each place will be
enjoying happiness.

But if men are not found who can
carry it out, then the most beautiful
schemes, on the contrary, may bring
forth most evil fruit. This ought to be
diligently laid to heart by both the
people and the church and also by
the gentry and officials.

Our Book Table.

W ^ ^ ff 1^. Edited by John E.
Kuhne, M.B. Price lo cents. Pub-
lished monthly.

As indicated in his letter to
us, this paper is meant to be a
"help to those who were our
pupils some ten years ago and
who are unable to buy many new
books." We must welcome this
attempt by Dr. Kuhne to supply
the needs of Chinese medical
students and to help them to
keep abreast of the times in the
matter of new clinical methods.
He labours under the distinct
disadvantage of not having a
foreign press at hand, with the
result that although the blocks
are fairly well and clearly cut,
the whole get up of the book is
primitive and uninviting.

There can be no doubt that
a work such as this is most
desirable, and the day cannot be
far distant when a Chinese med-
ical journal will be a necessity ;
till then our best wishes go with
Dr. Kuhne in thus trying to meet
a need.

In the writer's opinion the
right way to begin such a
journal is to have several

pages of the Medical Mission-
ary Journal printed in Chinese
with just such articles as Dr.
Kuhne has given in these two
numbers of H "B ^ if 4^B or it
might be printed as an enclosure
with the Medical Missionary
Journal, so that the majority,
at least, of the students connected
with our missions might be
stimulated to keep up their
studies by these monthly articles.
Later on w^e may hope that
a Chinese medical journal will
arise, conducted and edited by
the men who have now been
trained in our hospitals and
colleges. It is, however, too
much to expect that busy med-
ical missionaries will be able for
more than an occasional article,
and we cannot but admire Dr.
Kuhne' s brave attempt to do this
single-handed.

The Chinese of these two
numbers is excellent, though,
unfortunately, Dr. Kuhne uses
some awkward transliterations
which might be dropped, and
pure Chinese equivalents used.

J. G. C.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

513

" The Representative Jlen of the Bi-
ble," 2 vols. " The Representative
Men of the New Testament," i vol.
By G. Matheson, D.D.

To many the name of Dr.
Matheson is familiar from his
devotional books, such as * ' My
Aspirations," "Moments on the
Mount," "Voices of the Spirit."
But Dr. Matheson' s authorship
extends into other fields than that
of devotional literature. In the
field of theology he has published
"The Spiritual Development of
St. Paul," "The Growth of the
Spirit of Christianity " and others ;
in that of Christian apologetics
we find, " Can the Old Faith live
with the New,' ' and ' ' The Psalm-
ist and Scientist." Now in
his latest works he has entered the
field of Biblical exposition, for
exposition it may be called, and
that of the richest kind. A few
years ago in this field of exposi-
tion he gave us " Studies of the
Portrait of Christ" and has just
issued this set of " Representa-
tive Men."

Dr. Matheson has been a pro-
lific writer, but with all his
abundance of writing he gives
nothing paltry or commonplace.

Dr. Matheson is sixty-four
years of age, so we may consider
that in these latest volumes he is
giving us his maturest thought
after yeirs of searching into
the mind of the Spirit of the
Bible.

It may not be generally known
that since his twentieth year the
writer of so much literature has
been practically blind. But his
want of natural eyesight has been
no loss to him. His spiritual
eyesight seems to be most won-
derfully developed. He sees
beyond the commonplace sur-
roundings and incidents of those
Bible men into, the plan and idea
of their lives which made them
representative, which made them
not men of an age, of a nation,

but cosmopolitan. The lives of
those men are being lived in our
midst to-day. That is the seeing
we need as we read the Bible,
and Dr. Matheson has supplied
us with the method.

I have often been troubled
how to teach the Old Testament
to a class of Chinese students. I
have been dissatisfied with the
ordinary way of teaching Old
Testament biography or narra-
tive. I never could see what
interest it would be to the Chinese
student, nor what gain would
accrue to him by narrating the
stories of Adam, of Abel, of
Noah, of Abraham and others as
past events and as men of a time.
We know quite well that the
stories are traditions with little
historical basis. Of course we can
draw lessons from the stories and
the incidents of men's lives. So
could we from an\' other book.
But we want to make the Bible
real to the Chinese and seek to
lead them to take a living in-
terest in its narratives. Dr.
Matheson in these books of his
has opened up — to me at least —
the line of study and has given
the clue to find out the meaning
of those men's lives. As he says
in his preface : '* By ' The Repre-
sentative Men of the Bible' I
mean the men of the Bible who
represent phases of humanity,
irrespective of place and time.
If there be a revelation, it is
through them, in the last result,
that the revelation must come."
*' Their voice, which originally
w^s local and national has, in
course of the years, become
cosmopolitan and universal.'*
" It is where the case of Enoch
ceases to be special that his
figure becomes to me a revela-
tion ; for it is then I appropriate
his story as something possible
for mey "A revelation from
God is not a statement of what

514

The Chinese Recordei

[September,

men once did ; it is a statement of
what men may always do. There
lies the power of the Bible."

So following along these lines
Dr. Matheson gives us such
studies as: Adam the child,
Abel the undeveloped, Enoch the
immortal, Noah the renewer,
Abraham the Cosmopolitan, etc.

After studying these books I
look forward with interest to the
future teaching of Old Testa-
ment narratives and characters
to native students. I hope these
books may become widely known
and read by missionary teachers
and pastors. I feel certain the
preaching from the Old Testa-
ment would be along a different
line from the usual.

Here is a work for our " Chris-
tian Literature Society " transla-
tors. Let them give these books
of Dr. Matheson' s in easy Wen-li
or good Mandarin.

Teri.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Journal of the North China Branch
of the Royal Asiatic Society for the
year 1906. Vol. XXXVII. Contents :
The Jewish Monument at Kai-feng-fu,
Ancient Tibet and its Frontages,
Notes on Chinese Banking System in
Shanghai, Notes on Chinese Law
and Practice preceding Revision,
Chinese Children's Games, etc. A
fuller notice will appear in next issue.

MacMillan and Company's Books.

A Public School French Primer,
comprising Reader, Grammar, and
Exercises. With a chapter on French
sounds and lists of words for practice
in pronunciation and spelling. By
Otto vSiepmann, Head of the Language
Department at Clifton College ; and
Eugene Pellissier, Professeur Agr6g6
au Lyc^e du Havre, etc. Price 3/6.

A school Geometry. Parts I and II.
With an introductory course of ex-
perimental and practical work. ByH.
S. Hall, M.A., and F. H. Stevens, M. A.

Part I. Lines and Angles, Rectili-
near Figures.

Part II. Areas of Rectilinear Fi-
gures. Price 2/6.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in
course of preparation. Friends
engaged in translation or com-
pilation of books are invited to
notify Rev. D. MacGillivray, 44
Boone Road, Shanghai, of the
work they are engaged on, so
that this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C. L. S. List: —

Booker T. Washington's "Up
from Slavery." By Mr. Kao Lun-
ching.

Guizot's Civilization in Europe.
W. A. Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the
Christian Religion. Dodge.

Shansi Imperial University
List : —

Twentieth Century Atlas of
Popular Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published
by Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, pub-
lished by Chambers.

Systematic Theology. By Dr.
H. C. DuBose. (Very extensive.)

Catechism of Synoptic Gos-
pels. By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the
Eife of Christ." By Miss Sarah
Peters. Nearly ready for the
press.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

515

Concordance of the New Testa-
ment. Mandarin. Rev. C. H.
Fenn.

Commentary on the Four
Books. By Dr. Henry Woods. .

Ballantine's Inductive Studies
in Matthew.

"An Indian Princess." By
Mrs. Bertha S. Ohlinger.

Abridgment of Mateer's Arith-
metic. By Mrs. Mateer.

Catechism on St. John's Gos-
pel. By Mrs. DuBose.

Rev. Geo. L,. Gelwicks writes to
say that he is working on a Con-
cordance of the Old Testament
in collaboration with Rev. C. H.
Fenn on the New Testament.

NoTA Bene : Mr. MacGilli-
vray's Classified and Descriptive

Catalogue of Christian Literature
(1901) being all sold out, he
purposes bringing it up to date
for the 1907 Centenary Confer-
ence, including all distinctively
Christian books by all Societies.
Suggestions for improvement
and materials gratefully received
from recent authors and from
Societies ; more especially as the
new material has been lost iu
the Whangpoo. He has also in
mind to publish a China Mission
Year -Book, commencing with
1906, to be issued at the begin-
ning of 1907, this to be the first
of a regularly appearing series of
Year Books. Suggestions as to
what should be included in these
Year-Books are now solicited.

Editorial Comment.

1

We gave as a frontispiece to
our last issue a picture of Her

f>. ir. ib. Majesty the Em-
^ ^ press - Dowager.

*^''"«*^"- It is particularly
appropriate that this month we
give a portrait of His Imperial
Majesty Kwang Hsu, his
thirty-fourth birthday having
been celebrated in the course
of the past month. In spite
of the meagre knowledge we
have of the Emperor's life and
character, the general impress-
ion seems to be that he is a
weakling. Possibly, however,
a careful study of the little we
do know will not only make
us sympathise with the trials
he has had to endure, but will
rouse our admiration for what
individuality he has shown.
During the ^ lifetime of his
father and the Eastern Empress
his life may have been com-

paratively happy, but since
the strong-willed Empress-
Dowager took charge of himself
and his ministers, imprisoning
the former and degrading the
latter, when they exhibited
any signs of progressive tend-
encies, he must have had any-
thing but a joyous existence.
According to the immortal
poet, it was Henry IV. who
sighed to taste the joys of
unvexed slumbers, since so
' ' uneasy lies the head that
weai:s a crown." A crown
loses its significance when the
Empress-Dowager is at the
head of affairs. But it is a
satisfaction to know that the
Emperor suflfered considerable
uneasiness, not so much be-
cause of himself, but because of
the sorrows and disasters that
had been brought upon his un-
happy country. He is reported

516

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

to have said to one of the
reformers who had assisted
him with valuable advice :

" I have been accused of bein^ rash
and precipitate and of attempting
great political changes without due
consideration. Tliis is an entire mis-
take. I have thought over the
condition of my country with great
seriousness for several years Plan
after plan has come before my mind,
but each one I was afraid to put into
action, lest I should make some
blunder that would bring sorrow
upon my empire. In the meantime
China is being dismembered. . . .
Whilst I am waiting and considering,
my country is falling to pieces, and
now, when I attempt lieroic measures,
I am accused of rashness. Shall I
wait till China has slipped from my
hands and I am left a crownless
king?"

* * *

No doubt he wanted to do

too much at once, and we can

_ _ only rep^ret the

UbeEmpetot j^^k of wise and

ano IRefotm. ^^^^^^ ^^^.^^^.^_

But when we think of the re-
form decrees during the time the
Empress-Dowager allowed him
a free hand — how the Emperor
evidently felt the necessity of en-
couraging art, science, modern
agriculture, etc., of abolishing
the Wen-chang essay as a pro-
minent part of examinations,
of establishing a university
in Peking, how he had ideas
with regard to railways and mili-
tary matters and thought of
the rewards he would have liked
to offer to inventoirs — we can
only express our thankfulness
that he was not only uneasy at
the troubles of his country, but
anxiously earnest for its best de-
velopment. It is interesting to
note how much the Empress-
Dowager is now in political
sympathy with the Emperor's
ideas ; and also, in connection

with this last consideration, to
note the interest taken by the
people in the Emperor. Every
year sees a more hearty celebra-
tion of the Imperial birthday.
* * *

This is only one of many
indications of the awakening of
the minds of the

Zbc IRew

Cbina.

people. Their more
openly expressed
interest in their emperor shows
a more intelligent patriotism.
There have been further in-
dications this month of the
change in the thought of the
people. An attempt has re-
cently been made by certain
enlightened censors and mem-
bers of the Hanlin Academy in
Peking to obtain the Imperial
sanction for the introduction
of the Solar Calendar in place
of the Lunar now in force.
We have heard of a monster
petition signed by the teachers
and nearly 90,000 students and
scholars of the new schools
and colleges, government as
well as private, in the province
of Chihli. This was handed
to Duke Tsai Tseh as repre-
senting the lately returned
travelling commission from
abroad. "In the document,"
says the North- China Daily
News^ " the petitioners pray
the Travelling Commissioners
to urge upon the Throne the
importance of granting a con-
stitution and parliamentary
representation to the country ;
the revision of official ranks
and powers ; the drastic reform
of the criminal laws and judica-
ture ; the simplification of the
style and form of the written
language ; and last but not

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

517

least, the promulgation of a
law compelling the study in
schools and the universal use
of but one language for China^
by which of course is meant
the Mandarin language, or
*Kuan hua. '" As we read
in the opening sentences of an
essay written by a Chinese
student, "China is awaking.
The Titan of the Orient is
moving. The Dragon of Ca-
thay wakes from his long slum-
ber, sneezes, yawns, shakes his
sides, and the whole Asiatic hill-
side undergoes convulsion and
commotion." Such changes
are all the more significant
at this time when the eyes of
the civilized world are turned
to the momentous events occur-
ring in Russia. We trust that
this revolution of ideas in
China will not be accompanied
by any catastrophic upheaval.
* * *

Not only are there political
changes, but economic changes
also, for the

/Iftiesionarlee an&
mew ConMtions.

air seems full
of railway and
mining developments. Then
there is also a distinct change
in the ecclesiastical situation.
As many problems arise from
this we have printed in this
issue Dr. Osgood's earnest and
eloquent introduction of an
important subject, "How can
we meet the changed con-
ditions now coming into
ascendancy in China ?" In
our next issue we hope to
print an article going more
particularly into the mission-
ary's personal relations to the
Chinese under these new con-
ditions. The new missionary,

as he comes to China — arriving
in a time of transformation —
feels that he is coming at a
time when history is being
made. Whilst he rejoices in
the inspiration that comes from
these new privileges and re-
sponsibilities, it is only right
to warn him that he is going to
have a much harder time than
his predecessors. He cannot
presume on being a foreigner ;
the Chinese helper knows that
along certain lines he knows as
much as the young foreigner in
church matters. And he has
got to be specially careful, be-
cause a number of our partially
enlightened and more sensitive
native brethren are evidently
watching for insults and think
they see haughty discourtesy
where no such attitude is even
dreamed of. If he has but
recently arrived he will be all
the more careful in studying
these new conditions and fresh
problems, so that, when he is
ready to preach, his message,
by its wisdom and winsomeness,
will find its point of contact
with these new movements and
will fall upon uuoflfended ears.
* * ♦

Those of our readers who
felt specially interested in the

-. - ,^ lines of thought

Secfters after i. j u

(306. suggested by

Bishop Graves HI

his article on Chinese Chris-

tiaiiity^ published in our June

issue, will find further food

for thought in Mr. Genahr's

article in this number on

" Seekers after God among the

Chinese." Mr. Genahr has

made a careful study for a

number of years of the religious

518

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

sects in China. As he himself
explains, these religious com-
munities or secret sects are not
the same as the secret societies.
Unlike the latter, which owe
their origin to hatred of foreign
rule and home oppression, the
religious sects, to a certain
extent, owe their existence to
a desire to know the Infinite
and the Eternal. As we
expressed in our Editorial Com-
ment then, it may be question-
ed whether there is not among
the Chinese far more depth
and warmth of emotion, and
hence a possibility of arousing
greater devotion, than appears
on the surface. We feel that
the Chinese religious longings,
in spite of mixed motives and
earthly tendencies, are deeply
rooted ; and if the anxious ones
do not succeed in finding satis-
faction in the religions of the
country, they may readily be-
come members of the vegetarian
and other sects. Dr. Arthur
Smith, in his Rex Christus^
referring to the fact that some
missionaries regard the preval-
ence of these sects as of great
assistance in the introduction of
Christianity, while others have
found them, for the most part,
an obstruction, points out that
there has never been any gen-
eral movement among them
toward Christianity, yet such
an event is not impossible
though perhaps not probable.
* * *

Would it not be possible
to get from workers in diifer-

— w ^ ^ ent parts of the

^ycu vi,viivwtii7 gjj^pjj.^ some

in Cblna. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^i^-^

line? We think also that a

useful census might be made
as to the number of old people
in China who have become
Christians. About thirteen
years ago Dr. Ashmore wrote
with regard to the Gospel
being not only a Gospel for
young people but an old
people's Gospel as well, and
mentioned how, since the
Baptist Mission was started at
Swatow there had been bap-
tized into its membership 1,670
persons. Of these, nearly half
were baptized after they were
fifty, and no less than 361
after they were sixty years old !
He gave a list of the ages of
the latter, as they were entered
in the church record, and the
table is an impressive one.
There is a wonderful array of
seventies ; no less than ninety-
eight having been baptized
after they had passed their
three-score and ten. And
there were four above eighty
years of age. This is as it
should be. As life advances
our problems, as well as those
of the Chinese, will find
solution along spiritual lines.
* * *

It would make an interesting

comparison to study the seek-

^ ^ ^ ^ ers of China

®^/ « ^f and the old

in lln&la. ^^^ ^^ j^^j^

In one of Dr. Chamberlain's
experiences he speaks of a
venerable, grey-haired Brah-
min, whose circumambula-
tions, prostrations, and devo-
tions attracted his attention.

"Oh, Sir," said the Brahmin in a
tone of intense earnestness, "T am
seeking to get rid of the burden of
sin. All my life I have been seeking
it, but each effort that I make is as

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

519

unsuccessful as the one before, and
still the burden is here. My pilgrim-
ages and prayers and penances for
sixty years have been in vain. Alas,
I know not how my desire can be
accomplished."

After giving an account of
what he had done in his en-
deavours to get clear of the
burden of sin, and how the
Ganges washed away the
foulness of his skin, but not the
foulness from his soul ; how
he had spent his life in
pilgrimages and penances and
desert wanderings in the fruit-
less search for relief, he said : —

" And now my life is almost gone ;
my hair is thin and white ; my eyes
are dim, my teeth are gone ; my
cheeks are sunken ; my body is wast-
ed ; I am an old, old man ; and yet,
sirs, the burden of sin is just as heavy
as when, a young man, I started in
pursuit of deliverance. Oh, sirs, does
your Veda tell how I can get rid of
this burden of sin and be at peace?
Our Vedas have not shown me how."

We have been all the more
interested in the subject, as
there is continually coming up
a contrast between the religions
of the East and the West.
One well-known lecturer, re-
turning to America from a
sojourn in India, spoke of the
waning sense of religion and a
failing sense of God in the
West. There was no evidence
that religion was the chief con-
cern. Whereas in India the
scenes that met the eye of the
open-minded observer filled one
with the conviction that to
worship is, for man, as normal
as to breathe, and that modern
Protestantism in Europe and
America is not equal with the
East in the satisfaction of the
popular instinct with relation
to God. Of course there are

other aspects of the question
that ought to be noted in
making such a comparison,
e.g.^ the nature and object of
the worship and the influence
exerted by religion on the life
of the dweller in the East or
the West.

* :ic *

News has just been received

of the lamented death of the

T^ *u * m Rev. M. B. Dun-
Dcatb ot H)r. t t t^

flioit Duncan. '^^"'^^iP-P""-
cipal of the Shan-
si Imperial University, which
happened on the 5th instant.
Dr. Duncan passed away peace-
fully in a temple secluded in
the high hills of the Dragon
mountain and surrounded by
the pure pines that cover the
heights. He and his family
had retreated to this quiet spot,
about fifteen miles from Tai-
yuan, in the hopes that the
purity of the air and the
aroma of the pines would re-
store him to health. Though
his days were prolonged here,
yet no air, however fresh and
pure ; no human skill, however
deft, could restore vitality and
health to a constitution ravaged
by tuberculosis. The first
symptom of the disease appear-
ed last November. Dr. Duncan
has not been able to do any
active work since then. It is
hard to think of that busy brain
and body full of energy and
overflowing with vitality lying
still in death to-day. Shansi
has suffered an irreparable loss,
and China has lost the service
of one of the most capable
foreigners that have ever en-
tered her borders. A fuller
account of Dr. Duncan's life

520

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

and appreciation of his work
will appear next month.

* ■ * *

Our readers will be very

glad to learn that the American

^ « /- !....♦ Board of Com-
J5)r. B. Smitb's • • r

m«,.^ ^ . missioners for

^'^"S'"'"^- Foreign Mis-
sions has relieved Rev. Dr.
A. H. Smith from his more
local work and considers him
as a " missionary to China at
large." We understand that
it is left to himself, in con-
sultation with the North China
Mission (with which he will
be associated) to determine
upon where he will reside, to
accomplish this larger work
on which he is entering. The
small band of those who have
been released by their Societies
for literary work will welcome
the help which Dr. Smith
may be able to give in their
special departments, whilst
workers up and down China
who had the pleasure of meet-
ing Dr. Smith in the itinerary
he took before going home,
will recognise that he has
special gifts for tackling larger
questions. Everyone will wish
Dr. Smith Godspeed and afford
him hearty co-operation in the
new work he now undertakes.

As no information (except
such as is supplied in the
Educational De-
partment) has
reached us of the
subjects of discussion or the
views expressed at the various
health-resort conferences, we
have given most of the space
in our Missionary News depart-
ment to the first instalment

Dfews.

of Mr. Webster's illuminat-
ing "Side-lights from Man-
churia," and to reports of the
Baptist and Y. M. C. A. Con-
ferences. With regard to the
former our readers will join in
thankful recognition of this
fresh indication of the disposi-
tion towards unity, a condition
which the Psalmist describes
as "good and pleasant" for
those who dwell together.
* * *

In the same department will
be found particulars of the set-
tlement of the Lien-

Xfencbou
Claims.

chou claims. We
understand that the
amount paid for compensation
is exactly what was asked for,
the Chinese authorities taking
no exception to the amount.
It was handed to the Consul-
General in Canton in full on
the 13th July, 1906. Until
a short time ago our friends
in Canton supposed the settle-
ment here would be the final
settlement. Recently, how-
ever, a cablegram was received
by the Consul-General from the
State Department in Washing-
ton, directing that in settling
claims for property compensa-
tion, the right must be reserved
to make claims for indemnity
for loss of life. We wait with
considerable interest the ex-
planation of the cablegram.
Whilst the Presbyterian Board
voted that it would not claim
indemnity for the lives of those
who had been killed, it may be
that the home government have
objections to American citizens
foregoing their rights. The
subject is a complicated one,
and will be reverted to later.

1906.]

Missionary News.

521

Missionary News.

Personals.

The Rev. William H. Lacy, of the
Methodist Publishing House in China,
was honored with the degree of Doc-
tor of Divinity at the recent com-
mencement of his Alma Mater, the
North Western University. In con-
ferring this degree the president said
the University had been honored in
the distinguished services Dr. Lacy
had rendered the church during his
eighteen years of service in China.

On this same day, the twenty-fifth
anniversary of Dr. Lacy's graduation,
his son, Walter Nind Lacy, was gra-
duated with the degree of Bachelor of
Science from the Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity. His high scholarship there
and his services as assistant instructor
in the department of Natural Sciences
have secured for him a Greenleaf Aid
Scholarship at Harvard University,
where he expects to spend two or
three years in post-graduate studies in
preparation for educational work in
China. Dr. Lacy has three other sons
at Ohio Wesleyan University, two of
whom have already enrolled them-
selves among the Student Volunteers
for Foreign Missions.

It is with heartfelt sorrow we record
the death of Mrs. Beebe (wife of Dr.
Beebe of Nanking) at her home in
Meadville, Pennsylvania. She left
Chira two years ago, suffering from
consumption. We extend our deepest
sympathy to Dr. Beebe and family.
It is our hope to print an In Memo-
riam notice in our next issue.

Sad News from Canton.

A month ago a gloom was cast over
our mission community through the
sad death of Dr. Macdonald, of the
Wesleyan Mission. He was shot by
pirates while travelling on the West
River. On August i6th we suffered
another loss. Dr. Joseph Ings, who
came out at the close of last year
with his young wife under the New
Zealand Presbyterian Mission, was
taken away. The cause of death was
dysentery. Witb a fiue physique, a
warm heart, a splendid medical train-
ing and a love for the Chinese, we
had hoped a long and useful career

in our midst was before him. H^
was a student under the Edinburgh
Medical Mission Society and graduated
last year. He was born in Dunedin,
New Zealand, where his parents still
reside. About eight years ago he
visited China with Rev. Alex. Don,
and while staying with Dr. Kerr at
Canton he determined that he would
follow in the footsteps of that beloved
physician. Now he is taken from us
and from the Chinese in the very
beginning of his career, and his body
rests within a few paces of Dr. Kerr's
grave. It is difficult for us to under-
stand, but we believe that just as
Dr. Kerr's life was rounded off and
finished in a long service, so there is
no sudden break in reality in the
service of our young brother. He is
removed to a higher sphere of labour
and, in some way which we with our
poor vision cannot see, he may still be
labouring for the Chinese.

Geo. H. McNkur,

Settlement of Lien-chou
Claims.

The following claims presented by
the American Consul - General Lay
have been agreed to by the Viceroy
of the Two Kwang : —

(I). That the sum of Taels, 46,129.65
be paid to Julius G. Lay, American
Consul-General at Canton, to be paid
to the Rev. Henry V. Noyes, treasurer
and representative of the American
Presbyterian Mission, as compensation
for loss of property at Lien-chou.

(2). That the rewards ofiered for
securing the arrest of those guilty of
the murder of the missionaries and
burning the buildings be increased
and continue to be offered until such
persons are apprehended.

(3). That the strongest assurances
be«given the American government
that in future adequate, efficient, and
effective protection be guaranteed to
American missionaries in and near
Lien chou.

(4). That the small Chinese tem-
ple used for annual *• Ta-Tsiu "celebra-
tions and adjacent to the former
men's nii>sion hospital be at once
transformed into a school house and
thar the land on which it stands be
confiscated to the State.

522

'1 he Chinese ReLurder.

[September,

(5). That near this school house
and in a conspicuous position there be
erected by the Chinese authorities a
stone tablet, on which shall be carved
the Edict of His Majesty issued on
the 28th of October, 1905.

(6). That said Edict be also con-
spicuously posted in the city and
district of Lien-chou when the mis-
sionaries return there.

(7). That in addition to the tablet
described a memorial tablet be erect-
ed also by the Chinese authorities to
the memory of those missionaries who
lost their lives in the massacre at
Lien-chou, and that such tablet shall
bear an inscription stating that it is
erected by the- Chinese authorities.

(8). That this tablet be erected near
the tree in front of the cave temple,
where the missionaries were dragged
from the cave and tortured and killed,
before their bodies were thrown into
the river.

{9). That the above mentioned
tablets be erected before the tenth of
October next, and that should they
be destroyed or defaced in any way
the Chinese authorities will replace
or repair them.

Sidelights from Manchuria.

BY REV. JAMES WEBSTER.

An interesting and significant
series of meetings has just been
concluded at Newchwang. For
the first time since the outbreak
of the war the missionaries of
the Scotch and Irish Missions —
the United Presbyterian Mission
in Manchuria — have this year
been able to meet in Annual
Conference and Presbytery. It
was in May, 1903, when we last
met. Then the marks of the
Boxer persecution were fresh
upon us, and we were seeing
good cause to thank God for
them. Also there were ominous
clouds gathering on our horizon,
portending no one knew what.
In the interval these clouds have
burst, our sky is again clear,
and the church is once more
girding itself for the future,
with an outlook perhaps the
brightest in her history.

THE CHURCHES IN WAR TIME.

At the conference we had
interesting reports from the
various stations of how it fared
with the churches during these
years of turmoil and strife, and
a few notes from these reports
may not be uninteresting to some
of your readers.

Some districts of course suf-
fered more than others. The
region west of the Liao was
naturally least affected, and Chin-
chou, Kuangning and Hsinmin-
tun report that the work went
on throughout the war peacefully
and hopefully. In Chinchou and
the out-stations connected with it,
Mr. Keers baptized some 200
during the war period, seventy of
whom were received last year.
The enquirers' lists are most
hopeful, not only in point of
numbers but in the character
of the candidates. There seems
a growing desire on the part
of the people generally to know
what exactly Christianity is, and
men in the city are more eager
than ever they were to hear the
Gospel. Special meetings for the
quickening of the spiritual life
of the Christians have been held
and proved most encouraging.
One such mission was held dur-
ing the first week of the Chinese
New Year, and one of the
outcomes of it was that the
members raised the sum of ninety
dollars towards the support of
an evangelist. Two pastors from
Peking — Messrs. Rin and Liu,
deputies from Peitaiho confer-
ence— also visited Chinchou and
held a series of meetings, which
produced a profound impression
on the Christian community
there.

From Kuangning Mr. Hunter
brings the tidings of a vast num-
ber of enquirers ; the number
desiring to enter the Christian

1906.]

Missionary News.

523

church far exceeding the ability
of the staff, foreign and native,
to deal with. The Christians
have been showing a most liberal
spirit. Seventeen stations have
been provided with church build-
ings entirely by the people them-
selves. Indirectly the Boxer
persecution had materially bene-
fited many of the Christians.
They were not allowed to engage
in the ordinary trades, and
consequently had been compelled
to strike out into new lines of
business which had been success-
ful. Special missions for the
members had been held during
the year and had been productive
of much good in lifting up the
spiritual life of the people.

ENTHUSIASM OF THE PEOPLE.

There was a great demand for
girls' schools all through the dis-
trict. In. Hsinmintun Mr.
Onielvena told us the native
agents have manifestly grown
in knowledge and spiritual pow-
er during the war period. In
that district there is a great
demand for evangelists, and the
lack of them has brought volun-
tary workers to the front. One
such volunteer has devoted one
day of each week other than
Sunday for direct evangelistic
work. The church in Hsinmin-
tun has also expressed its sense
of the great need of evangelists
by subscribing 300 dollars to-
wards a fund for their support.
The work among the women
has made great progress. They
are coming out to the services
in large numbers and showing
great interest in them.

The medical and street chapel
evangelistic work is harmo-
niously combined, the outdoor
medical depar4;ment being worked
from the street chapel, so that
the native evangelists have a
fine opportunity of preaching not

only to the patients but to many
others besides. The Peking
pastors held a short mission also
in Hsinmintun, which was most
successful. There has been a
great demand for literature of
late, and over 1,200 dollars
worth was disposed of during
last year.

EAST OF THE LIAO.

Such are some of the gleanings
from Liahsi, the district without
the war zone. Now we come
to the east of the*Liao. In the
southern part of the peninsula
the war has had little apparent
effect on the work, save that
for a long time it was impossible
for the missionary — the Rev.
James Carson — to visit the
out-stations. Many of the ofii-
cers and men of the Japanese
army were friendly di.spo.sed to
Christianity, many indeed are
earnest Christian men. But
there have been exceptions. One
soldier entered the house of one
of our members, and seeing no
shrine to the kitchen god, asked
if they were Cliristians. On
receiving a reply in the affirm-
ative, he declared emphatically
that Christianity was no use
(Pu-kou-pen). Look at Russia,
said he. A Christian nation and
yet hopelessly beaten by a non-
Christian. Then taking a small
image of Buddha from his pocket
he held it up and exclaimed
triumphantly, ** This is the God
who gave us the I'ictory.'" At
Kaichou and Shiungyao the
members have subscribed with
great liberality and have
acquired suitable church proper-
ty of their own. In the city
of Fuchou an intelligent and
earnest Buddhist priest has just
been received into the church.
His brother had come under the
influence of Christianity in a
distant northern station and on

524

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

his return to his home at once
sought out the chapel and
became an earnest enquirer. He
introduced the priest, who in
turn became a regular and ex-
emplary enquirer. Before his
baptism he offered the temple
buildings and lands to the
church, declaring that they
were his own personal property.
Mr. Carson very wisely declined
the offer, holding that the priest
was only trustee. The property
was ultimately handed over to
a receiver appointed by the dis-
trict magistrate.

The work at Yingkou and
Tienchuangtai has gone on
much as usual, and at one
out-station there is at present a
very large number of enquirers.
Medical mission work has been
carried on continuously during
the war. The hospital at the
port was used as a base hospital
by the International Red Cross
Committee, and a temporary
dispensary and hospital had been
opened in the native city. The
result has been a great increase
in the number of patients, both
indoor and outdoor, and the want
of accommodation, especially for
women patients, is seriously felt.

THE I.ATE REV. J. MACINTYRE.

In Haicheng the Mission has
been called upon to bear the
irreparable loss of its devoted
head, the Rev. John Macintyre.
For over thirty years he has
been labouring there patiently,
persistently, and with ever in-
creasing power. His works do
follow him. Five of the
probationers, set apart by Pres-
bytery this year, were the fruits
of his labour, besides a band of
native helpers second to none
in the church. The four con-
gregations of Haicheng, Tashih-
chiao, Nevvchwang and Tengao-
pu, founded and fostered by

him, are his lasting memorial.
Much to his regret he had to
leave Haicheng when the war
broke out. Tashihchiao was
from the first the headquarters
of the Russian army, and the
mission property was comman-
deered first by the Russians and
then by the Japanese. For
many months the church was
used as a stable, and it was
impossible for the Christians to
meet save in private. Before
Mr. Macintyre died he had the
joy of seeing the work at each of
the stations once more in full
operation. New church build-
ings have been provided at each
of the stations by the members
themselves. Anglo-Chinese work
is a feature in Haicheng,
and it has never been more
successful than it is at present.
The Mission's relations with the
officials and gentry have always
been of the most cordial kind.
One of the deacons is chairman
of the local Chamber of Com-
merce, instituted recently by the
magistrate, Mr. Kuan. The
leading evangelist has been in-
vited by the magistrate to
address the inmates of the new
industrial prison — 150 in num-
ber—every Sabbath afternoon.
Mrs. Macintyre has been asked to
prepare teachers and personally
to superintend the new govern-
ment girls' school in the city.
On a recent Sabbath afternoon
all the officials and gentry of
Haicheng attended the church,
when the district magistrate
unveiled a tablet erected by the
members in memory of Mr.
Macintyre, in a speech eloquent-
ly testifying to the esteem in
which Mr. Macintyre was held
by all classes, to the value of
his work, and urging the mem-
bers of the church to carry into
practice the teaching of their
revered pastor.

1906.]

Missionary News.

525

LIAOYANG AND MUKDEN.

In Liaoyang city Dr. West-
water and Mr. MacNaughton re-
mained with their wives right
through the war. The great
strain had told severely on Mrs.
Westwater, and the Mission
mourns the loss of one who was
universally esteemed and loved
by all her colleagues. In the
city the work went on in most
of its branches in spite of the
great commotion, suspense and
danger before and during the
great conflict. Outside the city
the stations were very seriously
affected, and it is only quite
recently that the work has been
resumed under the Rev. George
Douglas. One interesting fea-
ture is the great development of
women's work. Whole families
are being brought into the
church in a way we have not
seen hitherto. In one out-station
there is an interesting movement
at present going on, from which
it is hoped there will be a great
ingathering in the near future.
The new government educational
scheme has produced a great
impression in Liaoyang, and there
is a great demand for books of
an educational character.

In the city of Moukden some
of the missionaries were able to
remain right through the war
period, and were able to render
valuable help to the wounded
Chinese and the multitude of
refugees who flocked into the
city from the war zone. The
congregational, evangelistic and
medical work in both east and
west churches was carried on
fairly continuously during the
war. The church services were
well attended right through ; the
women's services especially being
unusually large, entirely owing
to the splendid work of the lady
missionaries.

SHOWERS OF BLESSING.

Since the restoration of peace
a special eight days' mi.ssion has
been conducted by the two
deputies from the Peitaiho Con-
ference— Pastors Rin and Liu.
Each missioner addressed three
meetings daily, and the whole
series was most effective. The
nature of the subjects chosen
by the missioners, the ability
with which they dealt with
them, and the manifest hunger
of the people to hear the Word,
were alike noteworthy. The
spirit of prayer was present
in a remarkable way, so many
desiring to take a part that some-
times the whole congregation was
praying simultaneously. There
was a deep and lasting impres-
sion produced on the Chri.stian
community of Moukden by these
services.

FORWARD MOVEMENT.

In Moukden as elsewhere
throughout the province there
is a keen desire for Western learn-
ing. Many young men of the
higher classes are anxious to
learn English. The government
elementary schools are well at-
tended. A new element has
come into existence with the
establishment of popular societies
for discussion. A number of
the more intelligent men meet
almost daily and discuss subjects
of all sorts. One remarkable
thing is the iconoclastic nature
of some of the discussions.
' Pown with idolatry ' is a
common theme. This meantime
negative attitude may become
in due course a very positive
influence in favour of Christiani-
ty. There is another side to
it, however. Patriotism we must
of course meet sympathetically,
but there is a suspicion among
some of the native preachers

526

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

that this movement is anti-
Christian. On the other hand,
the fact that two of our native
Christians have been appointed
lecturers to these discussion so-
cieties in Moukden is significant
and hopeful.

The classes for evangelists
were magnificent both in num-
bers and g^eneral tone. The
spirit manifested was admirable,
and there was distinct progress
shown in spiritual knowledge.

DURING THE WAR AND AFTER.

It has been quite impossible
for the missionary — Rev. H. W.
Pullar — to visit the wide district
to the east of Moukden during
the war. The main stations
were occupied by Japanese sol-
diers and the cluirch premises
commandeered for military use.
The buildings were kept in
good repair, but public worship
was impossible, and in some
places the members have grown
lukewarm. But it has been far
otherwise in other stations. As
soon as the Japanese soldiers
left, the members began to gather
together again, and the fruits
of the quiet work which had
been going on during the war,
began to appear. In one district
it was found that a large
Christian community had been
gathered by the efforts of a
private member. Another most
impressive movement was in the
valley of Hsinkaiho, where a
young man of great enthusiasm
and remarkable preaching power
had gathered a great number of
enquirers, who at the present
moment are all eagerly learning
the doctrine. Commodious pre-
mises have been provided by the
people themselves, but so great
are the numbers joining this
movement that they have been
found quite inadequate. Whole
families are eagerly enquiring,

and there is every prospect of
a great ingathering in the near
future. In some of the stations
the sufferings in consequence of
the war have quite broken the
spirit of the people, but time
w411 heal this. There is great
want of native evangelists to
guide and teach the crowds of
enquirers.

(To be co7ithi2ied.)

Joint Baptist Conference
in Shantung.

BY REV. R. C. FORSYTH.

The first Conference of the
North-China Southern Baptist
Church of America, the Swed-
ish Baptist Mission and the
English Baptist Mission of Shan-
tung was held in Ping-tu, one of
the stations of the Southern
Baptist Church in Shantung, on
the 27-28th June, 1906. Those
present included three mem-
bers of the Swedish Baptist
Mission, seven of the English
Baptist Mission, and twenty of
the American Southern Baptist
Mission, representing four for-
eign-manned stations of that
Mission.

Rev. J. S. Whitewright was
appointed chairman and Rev.
W. H. Sears as secretary of the
Conference and Mr. Forsyth was
requested to prepare a record of
the proceedings to be sent to the
Chinese Recorder and the
North-Chi?ia Herald.

The chairman called on Dr.
Hartwell to give a sketch of the
history of the Southern Baptist
Mission in China, which consist-
ed largely of personal reminis-
ences of a most interesting kind,
which it is hoped may yet appear
in printed form in the Recorder.

Rev. John Swordson gave a
sketch of the work of the Swed-
ish Baptist Mission in China,

1906.]

Missionary News.

527

which began in Chekiang in
1891 , but was subsequently trans-
ferred to Shantung in the same
year and finally settled in Kiao-
chou. Rev. J. A. Rinell joined
the Mission in 1892 and Rev. J.
K. lyindberg shortly after, Rev.
John Swordson, formerly of the
Missionary Alliance Mission
working in Mongolia, joined the
Baptists of the Swedish Mission
in 1899, settled in Kiao-chou, and
that year had one baptism. The
following year was the year of
the Boxer uprising, and Kiao-
chou became a place of refuge
for Christians from all parts of
the province. In 1901 there were
forty added to the church by
baptism, and evangelistic work
has been prosecuted successfully ;
three chapels, in suitable centres,
have been built by the natives
themselves.

In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Lind-
berg removed to Chui-ch'eng, a
city situated 140 // south-west of
Kiao-chou.

A chapel to hold 200 has re-
cently been built there, and
preaching and itinerating is
being diligently prosecuted and
four persons have lately been
baptized.

In 1899 the Swedish Baptist
Mission became associated with
the Southern Baptist Church
work in the districts of Teng-
chou-fu and Lai-chou-fu, and in
1905 they were invited to send
students to the Training Institu-
tion of the American Baptists in
Huang-hsien and women to the
Bible-women's Institute estab-
lished there also.

Rev. J. S. Whitewright gave
a short and interesting sketch of
the work of the English Baptist
Mission, Shantung: —

The work of the Mission began in
i860 in Shanghai. Messrs. Hall and
Kloeckers were taken over from the
China Evangelization Society in that
year and Mr. Hall shortly after set-

tled in Chef 00, but in the following
year died of cholera. Mr. Kloeckers
also came to Chefoo, and worked in
China for five years before returning,
owing to ill health, to Holland, his
native land.

In 1863 Messrs. Laugh ton, Mc-
Mechan and Kingdon arrived ; the
two latter soon returned to England,
leaving the work in the hands of Mr.
Laughton, who worked alone till his
death in 1870.

In 1870 Messrs. Richard and Brown
arrived ; the latter practising medicine
for four years, but in 1874 left for New
Zealand.

Rev. T. Richard, after several tours
in Shantung and Manchuria, finally
settled in Ch'ing-chou-fu in Shantung
in 1875. For two years Mr. Richard
worked with much success amongst
the secret sects in the Ch'ing-chou-fu
district. In 1877 Mr. Richard left for
Shansi owing to the dreadful famine
raging there then. He had been
joined by Mr. Jones in 1876, who after
six months' study of the language was
left alone with famine relief work,
an orphanage and growing native
church on his hands.

Mr. Jones was joined by Mr. Kitts
in 1879, Mr. Whitewright in 1881,
Mr. James in 1883, and in 1884
by others, and the subsequent history
of the Mission is largely bound up
with Mr. Jones' life and labour. Mr.
Jones met a tragic death by cloud-
burst on T'ai-shan in July, 1905.

In 1888 Chou-p'ing station was
opened.

In 1889 famine relief work was
engaged in by members of the Pres-
byterian Mission and English Baptist
Mission ; 320,000 persons were enrolled
at a cost of about ^^40,000.
As regards educational work : —
Village schools were started in 1883.
A boarding-school for boys was open-
ed in Ch'ing-chou-fu in 1886. Board-
ing-school for girls was opened in
Ch'ing-chou-fu in 1896. The Theo-
logical Training Institution began in
1886, and has since become the Gotch-
Robinson Theological College.

%Iedical work began in Ch'ing-
chou-fu in 1880 and has since be-
come well established and enlarged
with well-equipped hospital and dis-
pensary in that city, and in 1900 a
large new hospital and dispensary
were opened in Tsou-ping.

In 1887 a small museum was opened
in connection with the Theological
Training Institute as a means of get-
ting into friendly relations with stu-
dents and others ; this work has been

528

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

most successful in Ch'ing-chou-fu,
and is now begun on a large scale in
connection with tlie Christian Insti-
tute which is in process of establish-
ment in Chi-nan-fu.

In 1904 the American Presbyterian
and English Baptist Missions became
united in educational work, the Shan-
tung Union College being established
in Wei-hsien as the arts department
of the Gotch-Robinson Theological
College in Ch'ing-chou-fu.

A most interesting paper on
"What should be our Attitude
to the New Movement in China "
was prepared and read by the
Rev. E. C. Nickalls, of the E.B.M.

Rev. F. Harmon, of the E. B.
M., delivered an address on " How
to make the Best Use of our
Forces," in which amongst other
things he referred to the work
amongst the literary classes which
is being carried on in the Ch'ing-
chou-fu district following on the
Conference held in the city of
Ch'ing-chou-fu by Dr. Timothy
Richard some years ago. Mr.
Harmon's address was followed
by one from Rev. C. Owen, of the
American Baptist Mission, much
in the same line and in the same
spirit.

These five papers above men-
tioned were the main part of the
proceedings, but amongst other
business transacted was the ap-
pointment of Messrs. Swordson,
Owen and Forsyth to see what
could be done towards the estab-
lishment of a Missionary Home
and Agency in Tsingtau, and
Messrs. Owen, Swordson, and
Harmon to arrange for future con-
ferences of the Baptist Missions
in Shantung. Messrs. Nickalls
and Forsyth were appointed to
bring the subject of the prepara-
tion and use of suitable Sunday
school literature before the E.
B. Mission and Mr. Swordson to
bring it before the Swedish Bap-
tist Mission.

The meetings throughout were
characterised by a most devo-

tional and earnest spirit and the
most hearty and friendly inter-
course and were fittingly closed
by the singing of the hymn,
" Blest be the tie that binds,"
when all present during the
singing clasped each other's
hands and sang with enthusiasm
the sentiments thus expressed.

The statistics of the three
Missions are given below : —

The North China Southern
Baptist Church has in Shantung
four foreign-manned Mission stations
and six out-stations. Mission Foreign
staff — fourteen men, twenty-one wom-
en. Total thirty-five. 210 baptisms
are reported in 1906. 1,638 baptised
believers in membership to date.
I>I34»592 cash subscribed last year —
say I630 Mex. A Theological Train-
ing Institution with twenty-four stu-
dents and Bible- women's Training
Institution are opened in H'uang-
hsien with twenty-two in attendance.
A fine new chapel with seating accom-
modation for 600, two girls' schools
with 109 pupils and thirty-six day-
schools (four being for girls) with an
attendance of 531 pupils, brings up
the total number of those under sys-
tematic instruction to 853. A normal
institute with eighteen students, three
boarding-schools for boys with 149
pupils, has recently been opened in
Ping-tu.

The Swedish Baptist Mission
have two foreign-manned stations
and four out-stations ; there are six
chapels in different places ; three of
these have been built by the Chinese
themselves. Ten evangelists and three
Bible-women are employed by the Mis-
sion. 181 baptized believers in mem-
bership to date. Five boys' schools
with thirty-one scholars. One boys'
boarding-school with sixteen scholars.
One girls' school with sixteen scholars.

statistics of the english baptist
mission, shantung, to dec, 1905.

The Native Church divided for con-
venience into four associations and
has a membership of 3,961 baptized
believers meeting in 275 stations scat-
tered throughout eighteen counties.
These stations are under the pastoral
care of eighteen native pastors elected
and largely supported by the native
church.

1906.]

Missionary News.

529

Educational Work is represented
by the establishment of ninety-one
village schools for boys and thirty for
girls with 1,065 boys and 240 girls in
attendance. Total 1,305.

Four secondary boarding-schools
for boys and two for girls are now
established with 165 boys and eighty
girls under instruction. The Shan-
tung Union College in Wei-hsien has
seventy -five students in the Prepara-
tory and Arts Departments. The
Gotch-Robiuson Theological College
has 100 E. B. M. students in training
for possible service as pastors, teachers
and evangelists.

Medical Work is conducted in two
centres with an annual attendance of
over 16,000 patients.

The Foreign Staff consists of eight
evangelistic, four educational, and
two medical missionaries. Five pro-
bationers are now engaged in study
of the language. The Baptist Zenana
Mission have five ladies working
in connection with the H, B. M. in
Shantung.

The Kiangnan Y. M.
Conference.

C.A.

BY REV. W. H. MILI.ARD. .

The third Kiangnan Student Con-
ference was held at Poo-too, July 7-15.
The two former were held at Soochow
and Hangchow and the distractions of
a large city led this year to the choos-
ing of a comparatively lonely place.
This resulted in a smaller attendance ;
there being no resident students
as in past years, to swell the numbers.
But as is always the case when one
gets away from the noises of men, the
quiet voice of God was more distinctly
audible than in previous years. One
student said: "This Conference has
been strangely different from the last
two."

Leaving out a few unregistered
attendants, there were eighty-nine
regular delegates representing fifteen
colleges. The personnel of the body
was as follows: pastors, nine; phy-
sician, one ; teachers, twenty-one ;
authors and translators, three ; chem-
ists, two; merchants, four; students,
forty-three ; mechanic, one ; secreta-
ries, five.

A day's program may be of interest;
At 6:30 a bugle was blown for rising,
if any were still in bed. This gave
time for the Morning Watch before
breakfast, which came at 7.30. At

8.30 the Conference divided into four
study classes : one on personal work,
led in English by Mr. Arthur Rugh, of
Shanghai ; one on prayer, led by Prof.
Zia, of Shanghai ; one for recent con-
verts or inquirers or any who had
diSiculties about Christianity, led by
Rev. Mr. Li, of Soochow ; and one for
Christian workers, led by Dr. Li, of
Shanghai. At 9.30 there was an hour's
open conference on some problem of
student religious work. Then after a
half-hour's intermission came the gen-
eral meeting with an address. These
meetings were held in guest rooms of
the large temple in which the dele-
gates were quartered and in tents near
bj'. The afternoon was given to rest
and recreation. After supper came
the "life work meeting." The stu-
dents gathered on tUe shoulder of a
high hill overlooking the long beach,
and there in God's great temple, full
of the gentle majesty of hills and
summer sea, they considered the prob-
lem of the investment of their lives.
The saCredness of all callings, the
opportunities in each for the highest
use of trained minds and hearts, and
the supreme privilege of the ministry
were presented in turn. After the life
work meeting the students went down
from the hill, each delegation to hold
a short meeting for prayer and discus-
sion of the best things of the day and
the application to their local Associa-
tion.

The speakers and those who pre-
sided at the meetings, and with the
exception of the English class, the
leaders of the morning study classes,
were all Chinese. Thank God for
men who in the clamor, wise and
foolish, of an immature patriotism,
can stand up and by the simple power
of a life in which self is hid in Christ,
lead their countrymen. Having heard
the deepest truths of the Christian
life from the lips of Chinese preachers
and teachers, not in learned phrases,
facile and unconvincing, but forged
red-hot in souls made new by the
Spirit of God, one cannot but look
out on the work in this Empire with
a« certain restful feeling that the
country is safe. Certain it is that
the conviction of the supreme necessi-
ty of regeneration and empowering
by the Holy Spirit for service, has
come as a new experience to many
students. And the unrivalled dignity
of spiritual leadership, the peerless
privilege of the cultured man who
abandons himself to all that the Holy
Spirit has to do in him and through
him — this came home to many as a

530

The Chinese Recorder.

[September,

wholly new idea., The problem of
finding students for the ministry has
advanced a long step toward solution.
Old difficulties remain, but a new force
is in the field.

Another of the great spiritual real-
ities that got into many hearts was the
supremacy of prayer. The 9.30 Con-
ference on the first day was given to
the discussion of the Morning Watch,
and many arose to emphasize the
importance of it or testify to blessing
in their own life durillg the past j^ear.
Prayer was made th-e subject of one of
the four Bible classes, and there
seemed to be much more of the spirit
of devotional studj' of the Bible and
of private prayeY than in previotis
Conferences.

The Poo-too Conference will be
productive of immediate and definite
results in the religious life of our
schools durmg the coming year. But
still more is it symptomatic, prophetic
of a deep spiritual movement now
beginning in China. Let us be very
hopeful and prayerful for the colleges
this coming year and for the Student
Conferences of next summer. It is
hoped that many more pastors may
attend than this year. The writer
left Poo-too with the determination
that at least one of the preachers of
his station should have the inspiration
of next year's Conference, if only
remaining in the station himself and
doing the preacher's work could make
it possible.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

AT Moukden, lytli July, to Dr. and

Mrs. J. R. Gillespie, I. P. M., a

son ; (James Hunter).
AT Fern Bank, Flixton, Manchester,

i8th July, to Rev. and Mrs. O. M.

Jackson, C.M.S. , West China, a son.
At Weihaiwei, i6th August, to Dr.

and Mrs. J. N. Case, a daughter

(Muriel Ruth).
At Tsingtau, 20th August, to Rev. and

Mrs. J. L. Davies, A. P. M., a

daughter, (Dorothea).

MARftlAGCS.

At Mohkanshan, July, Mr. H. Cas-
tle, C. M. S., Hangchow, and Miss
Florence Rodd, S. P. M., Hang-
chow.

At Weihsien, 26th July, Mr. Myron
H. Peck, Tientsin University, and
Miss Mary ChalfanT Moore, A.
P. M.

DEATHS.

AT Meadville, P., 8th July, Mrs. Ro-
bert Chase Beebe, M. E. M.,
Nanking.

At Ivichuan, Shensi, loth July, Mrs.
V. Renius, C. I. M., from apo-
plexy.

At Haishun, Laohokeo, 6th August,
Ruth Madgalene, age two years
and two weeks, beloved child of
Rev. and Mrs. L. Kristensen, Nor.
Luth. Mission.

At Taiyuenfu, Shansi, 5th August,
Dr. MoiR Duncan, President of
Shansi University.

On the West River, i6th July, Dr. R. J.
J. Macdonald, Wesleyan Mission,
Wuchow, killed by pirates.

AT Canton, 16th August, Joseph
In6s, M.B., Ch.B., of the New
Zealand Presbyterian Mission, aged
thirty years.

ARRIVALS.

AT Shanghai :•--

5th August. Dr. A. H. Smith, A.
B.-C. F. M. (ret.).

lith August. Rev. W. F. Junkin
and family, S. P. M. (ret.) ; Rev. and
Mrs. C. B. Titus, Foreign Christian
Mission (ret.).

2oth August. Miss R. M. Bowker,
M. E. M. ; Miss A. G. Waters, M. B.
M., So. (ret.).

24th August. Mr. H. C. HoYT, for
Imperial University, Changsha ; Mr.
N. Banister, A. P. E. C. M., for Wu-
chang ; Mr. E. I». Moore, M. E. M.,
Nanking ; Mr. and Mrs. W. A. EsTES,
Friends' Mission, Nanking (ret.).

departures.

From Shanghai: —

27th July. Mrs. E. P. Marsh and
two children, Miss M. Allen, M. E.
M. ; Mrs. W. S. AmenT, A. B. C. F.
M. , all for U. S. A.

4th August. Rev. W. Andrews
and family, C. M. S., for England,
via U. S. A.

6th August. Miss M. E, MoORE,
Church of Scotland Mission, for New
Zealand.

1 2th August. Rev. E. James, M.
E. M., forU. S. A.

24th August. Miss M. Byron, for
England.

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3*50 (Gold $J.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. OCTOBER, 1906. NO. 10.

Desultory Notes on some of the Elements of
Chinese Etiquette.*

BY THE LATE REV. A. G. JONES.

THESE notes have been printed for private circulation
under the conviction that the matter they deal with
is one of importance to missionaries in China. Whether
they wear the Chinese costume or not, the question of politeness,
courtesy, and a gentlemanly bearing in any case remain ; and
it can never be a matter of indifference to a missionary and
his work as to whether he is acquainted with the forms which
give expression to a courteous intention or lives in ignorance
and carelessness about these things. No man can hope to be
acceptable to a people whose prejudices he is always offending
and whose ideas of propriety he is always thwarting ; not only
that, but as we suffer in their estimation so must our message
and our work. Who is it that does not know that our attitude
towards others and their opinions is largely governed by the
feelings which their conduct and bearing excite in us ?

Three other things it is desirable to observe. First. It is
not meant that any one should devote attention to propriety and
etiquette so far as to make themselves contemptible by doing so.
Secondly. It is the decided opinion of the writer that such

* These notes were referred to in our July issue, pp. 367 and 407 ff.
One of our readers has kindly sent us a copy, and as the pamphlet seems
to be out of print, we reprint it for the benefit of the many who have
not seen it.— Ed. Rkcorder.

532 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

attention should be given to this matter from the first as will
rc^nder one easy in the practice of politeness. It should be
habitually cultivated and not reserved to be put on for special
occasions, a thing which cannot be satisfactorily done. This
of course contemplates that the missionary is in such constant
contact with the Chinese as to constitute intercourse with them
one of the main features of his missionary life, and so has
continual opportunities of observing personally their proprieties.
Thirdly. Attention is called to the fact that as in the West,
so here, the degree of formality is regulated by circumstances,
being modified by friendship, long acquaintance, necessity and
many other conditions that will best be learned in practice.

The Person. — It is wrong to suppose that the Chinese
tolerate carelessness about the person any more than Westerners.
In Chinese eyes it is quite as bad form to be dirty and untidy
and to have spotted clothes as it is in the West. For instance,
no amount of fine clothes will atone for a man having his hair
in disorder or stockings soiled.

It is also considered untidy not to shave regularly. The
usual thing in winter is to shave the head twice a month
and have the hair combed at least once in five days. The
Chinese nearly always shave before paying a visit.

In summer they shave their heads and comb their hair
much more frequently.

The moustache is a favorite in China. It is generally not
allowed to grow until a man is near forty. The beard is not
allowed to grow on the chin generally till after fifty. The
foreign fashion of wearing side whiskers is very offensive to
the Chinese. For a man to grow his beard and shave his
moustache is considered by them the height of barbarism in
such things.

Posture. — In sitting in a room it is not polite to let
the hands be much seen. They are generally concealed
beneath the sleeves. It is even in some degree disrespectful to
let them be seen. Leaning the elbow on the table is not
respectful. The right thing is to sit upright without crossing
the legs while talking with a visitor. One of the most general
rules is when any one enters the room to rise, and the degree
to which you rise, expresses the degree to which you wish
to show respect to the person entering, even to standing and
remaining standing till the enterer is seated-.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 533

The word *' please" is only used to teachers and those
reckoned and treated as equals. The rule is never to say
*' thank you" to a servant. There Tnay be, however, con-
ceivable exceptions to this which will suggest themselves to
every one possessed of good feelings.

Bearing in the Street. — In the eyes of the people
we are here in the character of literary men. The correct
bearing of a literary man on the street is that he should
walk slowly, not swinging his arms, not gaping about, not
carrying his head high, not talking in a loud tone, not
demonstrative. The arms are generally allowed to fall straight
by the side, not stiff, yet decidedly not swinging ; the eyes
are generally kept directed on the ground some ten paces ahead.
It is bad form to have the arms and hands in any other position
than hanging by the side, unless perhaps when carrying a fan.

The bearing of the aristocratic classes is different from
this. They walk rather faster, hold their heads higher and
talk altogether differently from the literary men. This kind
of thing sometimes goes down with the Chinese and wins
a kind of opinion from the populace.

We must suit our conduct to circumstances. Under some
circumstances our bearing had better be that of the literary
man and at other times that of those who are perhaps more or
less unavoidably connected with public affairs.

Again, in conversation the manner of these two classes
differs very considerably. The literary man speaks in a low
voice and is very deferential, while the other is generally
louder and more firm in tone.

Whistling, anywhere, is very infra dig. ; so also is singing
or humming while moving about.

To carry a stick in the hand while walking, as we do in
the West, is very offensive to the Chinese.

Almost everywhere it is offensive to the Chinese to walk or
ride on the walls of a city, though this remark does not
apply to cities where the walls extend very much beyond the
houses and where the people do it very much themselves.

The idea of carrying a lantern when on the street at
night, is to show who you are, and that you are not ashamed
of being out. Lanterns should therefore be carried, even when
it is moonlight. Servants should not be allowed to use the
same lanterns as their masters, if their master's name is on
them. You should, as a rule, never carry the lantern yourself.

S34 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

It is not considered very respectable to carry any parcel
through the streets. If you have to carry books they should
be wrapped up in blue cotton cloth, not in white ; white being
the colour for mourning. If you take bulky papers to a public
office your servant should carry them. Your servant will go in
with you, and when you need your papers you ask him for them.

Printed Paper. — The Chinese never use printed or
written-on paper for any dirty or disreputable purpose, such as
wrapping things up, or putting under vessels, etc. It is even
a meritorious thing for men who have nothing else to do to
collect all the printed paper they can find and take it to the
temples to be respectfully burned.

Meeting and Saluting. — On seeing a person for the
first time in the morning it is customary to say merely Ch 'ih-
li'ao-fan-mo? or Ch4-lai-liao-mo ? etc., with a nod. On
parting at night there is no regular ' * good night, ' ' merely
say that you are going to bed or hope to-morrow to meet again.

When you enter a room and the occupant rises, you
bow and request him to be seated at once — with the customary
gesture.

During the day when you meet an acquaintance a slight
bow is sufficient. Always make some recognition however.
To enter or leave a room without some slight recognition
to those in it, is considered rude, just as we often say, ^'Excuse
me for a moment,^' when we enter to get something and return.

The proper forms on meeting depend on the strength
of the acquaintance. If he is a man whom you know very well,
and whom you have not met for a long time, both parties
come up close together and make a full tso-i. This is the
extreme case of personal friends on meeting after long absence.
On the other hand, when you casually meet a man in the street
with whom you- have the very slightest possible acquaintance,
you merely bring your arms a little straighter by your side,
turn half towards him, look downwards, incline your head
slightly, smile, and pass on. Between these two extremes lie
all shades of politeness. The more you draw to one side, the
longer you pause ; the more cordial or respectful you look, the
more you give a distinct character and formality to the salutation.

If you meet an old gentleman in a narrow place you would
invariably, whether you know him or not, step on one side
until he has passed, keeping your eyes downward.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 535

In a tso-i the deeper you bend your body and the slower
you perform it the more formal.

If you meet a sedan chair you are never supposed to look at
the person in it. It puts him in the position of recognizing you,
and — according to strict etiquette — coming down from his chair.

The same rule applies to riders on horseback or in carts.
As a general rule, however, no one practically gets out of
a chair or cart ; whereas, of barrows and horses, the rule
frequently is to dismount.

In cities, on the main streets, you may ride freely in
carts or on horse-back ; but in the street where you live, and
on the small streets, it is always considered to be acting the big
man to ride on horseback unless perhaps indeed you are just
coming from a very long journey.

In the country, so long as you are on the great roads,
you may ride on horse or cart, in chair or as you please. On
all the small roads and paths, however, in this part, you should
get down off your horse or barrow and walk as soon as you
reach the border of a hamlet or village. This custom may
not be universal, but applies to this district* It is an honor
done to the residents.

Always get down from your horse or barrow, etc., when
enquiring the way, or else at the very least prefix your enquiry
by an humble and explicit apology for not doing so.

Entering or retiring from a Room. — I now suppose
a room fitted up in the usual Chinese way — a table against the
wall opposite the door, a chair on each side of the table, and
a ' cha chi tzu, ' each with its pair of chairs on each end of the
room. This is about the right way for the place to be furnished
ordinarily.

If there be no one else present, the host and guest sit on
either side of the table — the host always having his left arm
toward his guest. "The upper seat (place of honour) is
generally to the left of the hc^t, though in some cases the
arrangement of the room makes the right seat, as furthest
from the door, or from the outer wall, the place of honour.''
Sir Thos. Wade.

Suppose there are five guests and the host, i.e., an
occupant for each seat, then the difiiculty would be to arrange

* What is here written is the custom in the province the writer has
worked in (Shantung), but this, and doubtless very much more iu these hints,
each must verify for himself in his district.

536 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

the guests properly. The method would be as follows : In
such a case pitch upon the leading man and urge him to seat
himself in the most honored place ; the other guests will then,
with a little pressure, arrange themselves in their proper
positions at both ends of the room. Of course there will be
a good deal of fuss before all this is accomplished, but you
can slightly urge matters by pointing your guests to their
seats or by motioning to sit down yourself for a second and then
rising immediately to make a further request, with a volley of
polite assurances.* The host in such a case will seat himself
on the lowest seat nearest the door on the left hand side of the
door as you go in.

In Chinese rooms, other things equal, your left hand side
as compared with your right hand side (but the inner as com-
pared with the outer seat , is always the place of honor.

How TO DRINK Tea at an Informal Visit. — Ordinarily
when the servant brings in tea either the host or his servant
may pour it out according to the degree of familiarity desired.
As soon as the tea is poured out the host will take his cup and
motion with his head to the guest, which he will understand
as an intimation to drink. Both will then raise their cups,
keeping their eyes upon each other in much the same way that
the French drink toasts. The host always leads the drinking.
During the conversation the host frequently sips his tea, but
always looks towards his guest before doing so, who follows his
example as to frequency and amount drunk.

As the cups are emptied, the host (if no servant is by)
should stand up and refill that of his guest, who likewise stands
up, puts forth his hands at both sides of his cup as if to assist,
and motions the host to be seated, saying something polite ; the
host always asking him to be seated and in no case to trouble
to stand up.

Drinking, etc., at a Formal Visit. — In public visits,
and when there is some formality or business, the servant
will bring in the tea and place it before the host and guests.
If the host desires to be specially attentive he rises, meets
the servant, takes the cup and places the tea before his guest,
or before the chief guest, and the more formally this is done the
more honour is shown. The guest of course always rises in
such a case. Neither drink the tea then, but at once proceed

* You should be very ready in the use of complimentary phrases.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 537

to conversation or business. As soon as either party considers
the business sufficiently well settled and is desirous of conclud-
ing the interview, a motion is made with the head, a significant
look given across the table, and the other is invited to drink.
If, however, either party is interested in not cutting short
the interview, and wishes it prolonged, he is at liberty, although
drinking, to ignore the signal, and after drinking to go on
talking as before.

Smoke and tea always go together. To ask a man to
drink tea and not to smoke would be considered a breach
of politeness. A pipe should always be at hand and a servant
kept in attendance with it whenever any guest of importance
is along. It takes a well trained servant of a distinct order
to do this, as he must be ready with his lights and keep
he guest continually supplied. This is reckoned a very low
kind of business, and ordinary servants would not willingly
do it, considering themselves demeaned by being asked. It
is decidedly desirable to smoke at least a whiff or two with
your guests if you can at all. Enquire* as to how to hold
your pipe when getting or giving a light.

In going to a town for the first time many persons will
come to see you, but will neither drink nor smoke, because
they suspect your things of being Hruy^ged (1888).

Mohammedans will refuse everything of this kind, on
religious grounds — esteeming your vessels *' unclean."

In offering anything to your guest, whether it be tea,
a pipe or anything else, the offering must be made with both
hands. To offer with one hand is impolite.

Retiring from a Room. — There are two ways of leaving
a room — the formal and the informal way.

The Formal Leave-taking of a Visitor on Foot. — The guest
after an intimation that he is going, rises, faces the host and
makes a tso-i to him in the room. He then walks towards the
door, turns round towards his host just as he is about to
cross the threshold and requests him to return. The host
insists on accompanying his guest, or returns, according to the
degree to which he wishes to honour him. If the host goes out
with his guest the latter faces round and requests him not
to go any further at every door they pass through ; three times
being the correct thing usually. When the street is reached
that is of course the end of the matter. If the guest has made
a tso-i inside the room, all he will do, when he reaches the

538 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

street, will be to put his arms by his side and eyes downward,
stand for a second facing his host, and depart.

The most polite way a guest can take his final departure
is to then move six or seven steps from the door, turn round
and again salute his host with an inclination ; he being still
standing there expecting this.

The guest it is who always regulates the cordiality and
formality of the leave-taking. The host but acts as he acts.

Informai. Leaving. — The guest does not tso-i in the room,
but both host and guest rise and kung-shou to one another in the
room. In departing the guest makes the customary requests to
his host not to accompany him, and then, very frequently, if the
parting has been informal inside, it is more formal at the door.

How far the host goes with his guest towards the street
door depends upon the relative social positions and intimacy of
the host and guest and the degree of honour desired to be shown
to him.

The minimum amount of politeness is to stand just outside
the door of the room in the court and give a slight bow as
the guest departs.

A Visitor in a Cart or Chair. — It is very polite when
a guest arrives in a chair to send out and have it brought into
the compound and not left on the street. When he departs
the host should escort the visitor to his chair.

The occupant of the chair having crossed the chair poles
and got to the chair, enters it backwards and never turns round
in the chair. The host steps in front of the chair, to one
side, and just as the bearers are raising the chair to their
shoulders, makes a tso-i. The occupant of the chair loses
no time, raises his hands concealed in his sleeves before his face,
smiling and bowing towards his host through the glass as the
chair departs : the host also simultaneously makes a recognition.
This should all be done quickly and not to keep the host
waiting, and if the bearers are slow or clumsy, the occupant
had better not wait, but first bow to his host in form, when
he may depart. Remember it is the visitor who releases the
host to go back.

A Visitor on a Horse. — If a superior brings out an inferior
to his horse as soon as they tso-i the superior returns before
mounting. If he wishes to be very respectful, he still stops
by the horse, and as soon as the guest gives a kung-shou from
the saddle he goes.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 539

N, B. — When the guest makes a tso-i to the host at the
street door the host returns immediately, never waiting ; so also
does the guest, going and not looking back.

When there are several visitors in a room and one host,
or where one visitor goes in among a number of persons who are
all connected with the host whom he is visiting, then one tso-i
in the direction of the host is sufficient, both on entering and
retiring, adding perhaps a few general bows all round.

If, however, there were only two or three people it would
be necessary to tso-i to each.

When about to visit a person of rank, or to pay a visit on
important business, it is well to make an appointment beforehand.

On newly entering a town the commencement of all
acquaintance rests with the new arrival and not with the
residents, though sometimes they take the initiative. To be
delayed excessively at the door or in the guest room when
making a call, is not a good omen.

On being shown into a room where there is no one, always
take the seat which is lowest and nearest the door.

The length to which the host comes out to meet his guest
on his arrival, indicates the degree of respect desired to be shown.
There are no formalities observed outside, beyond the host
yielding the road to his guest at each gateway passed. When
thus meeting, the parties, if on formal terms, merely stand for
an instant in the usual posture, eyes down, and then go in.

If one guest retires and the others remain, only the host
escorts him out, leaving the others inside while doing so, but
often not going out at all owing to visitors still waiting inside.

All Chinese on entering one another's rooms, even when
living in the same compound, will first give notice of some
kind, generally a cough just outside the door, or a knock.

If you have any important private or secret business to
talk over, do not mind requesting that the servants be ordered
to retire. Either say: "There are too many eyes and ears
about,'' or request to be taken deeper (farther in) into the
house to a more retired room. * This last is best.

Formal visits are, as a rule, always paid during the
forenoon, but it is not considered polite to visit an official
before half- past ten or eleven, because their duties keep them
up late at night.

Frequent reference to the eyes having been made it should
be stated that, in formal saluting it is considered presumptuous

S40 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

to look a person straight in the face or smile much, so they
generally look not higher than about half way up the body
as being deferential.

Cards. — Cards should always be of the correct size, be
well written and printed on good paper. On the back there
should be stamped a phrase to the effect that the card could
only be used for visiting purposes so as to prevent it being used
for improper ends by underlings.

On making a formal visit a man wearing a dress cap and
boots should follow you, carrying your card in a card case, but
going ahead of you when he nears the place you are going
to visit.

Whenever you send a card to a person be sure you receive
one in return, as this is the only ordinary guarantee that your
card has been delivered.

Always send back a card when you receive one, whether
with a present or otherwise.

If you receive a *'shu-pen/' and circumstances warrant
you in not seeing the party calling, say to the servant that he
must ' ' tang-chia. ' ' If the officials of the district call at your
door complimentarily, it is considered right to send out such
a message, as you are not considered worthy to entertain them.
Of course if they have business, or send in a very pressing
message to see you, they must be seen.

The more promptly a visit is returned the more polite
it is ; even within an hour or two afterwards.

In first visits made in strange places, or in proportion
to the degree of formality desired, or to newly come officials,
you use the shu-pen.

On New Year's morning you should send your card to
people whom you ought to visit, and then call upon them
three days after or so.

Women visit on or about the sixth day.

Presents. — A card must always accompany a present. As
a rule acquaintance always precedes the making of presents,
but circumstances are conceivable where this is not so. When
in a new place, the extent to which you make or allow yourself
to receive presents, will show the extent to which you wish to
be friendly with the people.

A present of equal value with that received must always
be returned.

1906.] Elements of Cliiiiese Etiquette. 541

If you have no acquaintance with a person, and desire
none, it is allowable to refuse a present or any part of it.

If you are partially acquainted with him, you retain a part
and return a part. The more you return, the cooler your
attitude.

If you wish to have nothing to say to a person, send
back all his present.

If you do this to a person with whom you are acquainted,
it is a studied insult.

Presents are made before New Year, the fifth of the fifth
moon, and the fifteenth of the eighth month. The largest
presents are made at New Year. Whoever sends the present
first is acting the most friendly part.

The ordinary rule for a present is, that it should consist of
at least four kinds of things, be suitably folded in red paper and
sent on a tray covered with red felt. Of course when you
decline a present you use the usual phrase *' pu-kan-tang."
This phrase covers a lot in the way of getting out of things you
don't want.

When you receive a souvenir there is no return present,
e,g,^ on leaving to go home, etc.

It is very polite to send presents after births, and at
marriages, or burials. On such occasions there are no return
presents.

Birth presents are made when a friend's child attains the
age of one hundred days. It is the custom in China when
travellers run out of money to help them with a gift or loan,
which is seldom or never repaid. This is a very important
thing in China, and is thought a great deal of, owing to the
exigencies of travel and the uncertainties of the climate and
communication at certain seasons. Poor scholars often thus
run short.

Chinese will often put themselves to a great deal of
trouble for you and will receive no money for it, but they will
accept a present. Presents will accomplish much that money
cannot.

The thing that an official can accept in the way of a
present, while in office, is a book or number of books. The
servants who bear presents always receive a douceur. The
rate is about as follows : Present from an official in office,
I, GOO big cash ; from a large commercial house, 500 big
cash ; from private friends, according to position.

542 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

Presents made to you by those who manifestly can't afford
them are intended to be paid for above their value or fully up to
it in any case.

Feasts and Entertainments. — If the parties are very
intimately acquainted a verbal invitation may be given before
a feast, otherwise the invitation should be written on red paper
in due form and in as few words as possible. It is always
understood that besides the first formal invitation, on the day
of the feast a messenger is sent at the time to urge those who
have been invited to come. The guests are not supposed to be
punctual, and it is quite the correct thing to repeatedly send
and urge them to come. The cooks know, and allow for this.

The time of the feast should be about two o'clock in
the afternoon.

One table consists of four or eight persons. The host sits
on the left hand on that side of the table nearest the door,
but at the table with his most important guests. The guests
all have also their regular order for sitting at table ; same
as in visiting.

The centre table fronting the door has its most important
place inside, away from and fronting the door ; the other tables
have their places of honor at right angles to that, i.e.,
parallel to the end walls of the room — at the ends and facing
to the central table.

After the wine cups are filled the leader at each table,
and the host at his own table, lifts his cup ; the others
following his example. Then all look round and invite each
other to drink. One, or at most two, sips are taken, and
the cup is again placed on the table. The host must see that
the cups of those with whom he is sitting are kept filled
between each course whenever empty or partly empty, and
if the servant does not do so, he should rise and fill them
himself. Sometimes after a round or two all agree to pass
round the wine and each help himself.*

It is polite at a feast to urge one another to eat, and
to place choice portions of food before others on the small
saucers every one has in front of him.

The wine having been sipped, some sweets are eaten, and
then the wine is again sipped.

*If you object to alcoholic beverages, just let your cup remain full. It is
the Chinese practice, not the abstract principle, which is here laid down.
Smoking ditto.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. S43

All those at one table eat and drink together, only taking
one or two mouthfuls at a time, then laying their chop-sticks
on the table, talking and sipping wine, and so the feast goes on
course by course.

It is considered ridiculous or awfully greedy to eat except
when the others do, and thus break the order.

If you are dining with friends this formality may be
laid aside ; after the feast is half through the host saying :
* * Let us eat as we please. ' '

Before leaving the guests should tso-i or kung-shou to
their host, thanking him for all his trouble.

Moving to a new residence, city, or village, the settlement
of quarrels, a child attaining lOO days, adoptions, etc., etc., are
all occasions for feasts.

The general order of a feast is wine, sweets, cold e^itrkes^
the warm dishes in endless succession, rice and tea, smoke.

Names. — People in China, over and above their patro-
nymic, take various names according to their age and progress
in life. These particulars you must learn from your teacher,
as also how to enquire these names.

Before you meet people learn as much about them as you
can. It is not polite to ask a man whom you are supposed
from his eminence to know all about, as to his age, parentage,
locality, and circumstances. It is very polite and very necessary
to do this to ordinary people when you first meet.

It is important to learn beforehand what proper title to
use in addressing people. You should learn and habitually use
polite forms of address, etc.

Not only the officials but all the under-officials have their
proper modes of address, both in speaking to and in writing to
them.

Intercourse. — Officials are generally addressed for the
first time on red paper, and after that, by us, generally on
ordinary native note paper. «

We have intercourse with them as visitors, not as subjects,
so that we need not kotow, etc. We claim from them only the
same privileges as exist between host and visitors in any
country.

In visiting officials on business, it will be understood that
in many parts they seldom return a foreigner's visit. It is,
however, always requisite that they should send their card.

544 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

When an official first enters upon his office, if he is of
any such rank that you expect to have dealings with him,
he expects a letter from you congratulating him, opening
relations with him officially,* and expressing a hope that your
intercourse will ever be cordial, etc. You must distinguish
between your personal and private welcome to him and the
business you inform him officially. An official is supposed
to remain within his yamen and know nothing except that
about which information is given or sent him. If you go to a
town and don't notify him of your arrival, he is not expected
to do anything for you until you do.

The military all rank very much below the civil officials.
They always ride on horses, never in chairs. If you meet them
do not look at them, even if you think you know them. No
official should salute you from his horse. The military are
mostly coarse and rough men, and generally speaking etiquette
need not be gone into so particularly with them. There are
some exceptions to this.

In China the country gentlemen and landholders are a very
important and influential class, and we cannot afford to
disregard them. They are the equivalent of our own squires
and county families. They nearly always have some literary
qualifications, are well up in etiquette and must always be
strictly treated as high class teachers and as gentlemen.

Teachers differ very much. The city and the country
teacher is essentially a different class of man, but the general
rule is to treat them as educated gentlemen. A teacher is never
considered a hired man. He is solicited by you to come and
bestow on you the influence of his learning.

Merchants. — There are stationary merchants and travel-
ling merchants. The latter generally cultured, the former
often boorish. Treat them as you find them. As a general
rule they are above the farmers in manners, breeding, and
education. It is very seldom an error to begin intercourse
politely with any one. You very soon see if you are over-
doing it.

Farmers, — This class is treated with far more care as to
manners than the same class in England, and under no
circumstances must their rough exterior warrant careless

*" Officially," not as having^, claiming, or pretending official position
and rank, but as representing interests which he is officially concerned with
in many ways.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 545

treatment. The coolie who himself has no manners compara-
tively is a perfect critic of those who have, and loves respect
dearly.

If a high class guest, not holding official position, enters
an assembly of say from four to ten persons, no special
distinction is made between him and the others except as
to the seat you and the others accord him spontaneously.

Work people a^id servants should be carefully selected,
because we are judged by the servants we are seen to have
about us.

The Chinese servants are fond of cheerful masters. When
you return home they always seem very glad to see you,
and they expect you to manifest a reciprocal feeling. They
are fond of a word of praise when they do anything extra
for you. The 'Mot" and "right" of a Chinese are much
more strictly interpreted by them than we are wont to
recognize.

They attach far greater value to presents in kind than
they do to the same amount of money given in the foim of
wages.

A great virtue in dealing with servants, is to have an easy
manner in ordering them.

If you leave home for any length of time, take some
notice of your servants when leaving.

In coming from the West to China it is necessary to
state that the most frequent error foreigners fall into is a harsh,
exacting manner with their servants. This is exceedingly
to be deprecated. It is the very opposite to the easy going way
they carry on matters among themselves, and as it gets to
be quickly known among your neighbours, soon creates a
feeling that is working against you just where you should
be best loved.

Dress. — Have your clothes of proper cut and tailor-made,
not home-made.

Never wear your stockings ever your leggings.

The northern leggings are low and big in the calf.

The southern leggings are high and close fitting.

It is not proper to go without leggings, or to have
your trousers unbound at the ankle. Only scamps and coolies
are seen thus. Only certain colours are permissible to people
of certain ages, and other colours not so. Always be sure that
you are wearing colours suitable to your age and position.

546 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

Skin garments are seldom worn until a man has passed
forty or forty-five. It is considered injurious to wear skins
all the winter when a man is young.

If you are living in a city where appearances have to be
studied much, get your servant to straighten your clothes
before you go on the str*eet. A belt is always worn with lined
or wadded clothes, and literary men should always have their
gown plaited in two folds at the back, called in English a
*'box plait." A ma-kua-tzii, and not a k'an-ch'ien, is the
strictly correct thing. The 'kan-kien is worn more properly
indoors as being a convenient dress.

Full-dress, or official clothes, are worn on all extraordinary,
formal or state occasions.

When travelling you may visit an official in ordinary
dress, even if for the first time. After the first visit, it is
not necessary to wear full-dress suit continually. When you
wear boots no leggings are necessary.

Under the full-dress split p'ao-tzu is worn a tan-kua.
Your p'ao-tzu is always girt with a belt, not a sash.

Over the p'ao-tzu goes the wai'tao-tzu.

In summer the clothes are made of gauze only.

The next heaviest thing is single silk suits.

The next heaviest thing is light lined silk.

The next heaviest thing is wadded clothes, and the next
skin-lined.

Each kind of clothes has its proper season when it should
be worn, both in full and ordinary dress. The hats are all
changed on a given day. Ask.

In seeing an official the degree to which you turn up your
cuff is the degree to which you stand on your dignity and
vice versa.

After the death of an Emperor no red is worn for some
time in full dress.

It has been found unadvisable to sell books with red covers
after an Emperor's death.

No one over twenty wears bright red or distinctly reddish
colours.

The wai'tao-tzu of the dress clothes has always to be a dark
mulberry-color of whatever material.

To keep on the hat is respectful. To take it off
is consulting your own convenience. Wait till you are
asked to.

1906.] Elements of Chinese Etiquette. 547

To wear spectacles in the presence of guests is disrespectful
for the same reason. If you are short-sighted just remove
them for a moment, allude to it, and replace them with a
polite apology. Meeting in the street do the same.

We are literary men, and unless we wear a button in
our hats they do not understand that we are properly literary
men.

In my opinion, considering our education and position,
it is not improper to wear an ordinary gilt literary button.

NOTE.

The foregoing deals only with the forms of intercourse
and does not profess to touch on the underlying principles.
There is, however, one principle of Chinese intercourse that so
dominates all others that I must say something on it. It is
known as '* face.'* In all intercourse and business the Chinese
prize *'face. " If they are in the wrong they are generally
content to endure the results, provided they are left a good
*'face." If they negotiate and fail of their object, they
still want their '*face" not taken away. If they are to be
reproved or discharged, they like it best if it is done, so as to
raise the blush of shame as little as possible. They hate
disgrace and shame, exposure, and the ignominiousness of loss
more than the loss itself. This has become a very tender
spot in the Chinese character. They do not object to right and
justice, but their face is to be saved. The existence of the
*' middle-man,'' the wide patronage of ''arbitration," is largely
connected with the existence of this sentiment. It is here
explicitly alluded to in order to emphasize that there is in
them a deeply seated and complex sentiment of this kind,
so that those who have to deal with them may never for a
moment be unmindful of its existence. Nothing is here said
as to the degree of consideration to be given to this factor
by various persons dealing with the manifold circumstances of
life; attention, however, is called to it, so that no one shall
be in ignorance of how a Chinese will regard actions that
show no consideration for his public reputation among his
fellows. ^

A. G. J.

Atisml, iSSS.

548 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese.

BY THE REV. I. GENAHR.

(Concluded from p. ^77, September number.)

IN strict obedience to the Mahayana commandments, all
communities of the Lung-hwa society are zealous in
enlisting new members. An argument often used by pro-
pagationists to entice neophytes, is that the abstaining from
animal food promotes bodily health and gives physical and
mental quietness ; and in proof of this assertion they point to
their own cheerful temperament.

The admission of candidates for membership is called at
some places Kui-i (^ ^), "Taking Refuge.^' It is considered
to be of the utmost importance, as it opens the path of
Salvation. But no one can find admission without the inter-
vention of a In-tsun-su (5[ jg gjj), or "Introductory Master,"
a notable male or female member who proposes him and
warrants his good faith.

As a rule several candidates are initiated at the same
time. They range themselves in two groups before the altar
at which the Fa-to-su ({^ jg gjf), or " Master of Conversion, '' is
officiating, in kneeling attitude ; the women on the right, the
men on the left, all holding burning incense sticks in their
folded hands. The initiator mumbles a series of formulas,
purporting to make the Saints descend and settle in their
images. He then mounts a kind of low platform, on which
a chair is put ready for him and a small table. From this
pulpit he delivers a short sermon on the excellence of the
doctrine of Buddha. This is followed by an examination of
the candidates, which at the same time answers the purpose
of a confession of faith : —

Q. Now may I ask you, ye worthies in both groups,
which favours in this world are the most important ?

R. The four favours.

Q. Which are they ?

R. That heaven covers us, and that the earth bears us ;
that sun and moon shed their light upon us ; that there exists
water and land belonging to our Imperial Sovereign ; that our
parents have given birth to us.

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 549

Q. And how can these favours be requited ?

R. '' We certainly must abstain from forbidden food and
accept the Commandments.^'

"Our Holy Founder,'* the Initiator continues, "has be-
queathed to us three Refuges and five Commandments. Listen
attentively ! The first Refuge ! Knock your heads against
the ground [here the prostrated candidates three times in
succession touch the floor with their foreheads] and take refuge
in Buddha ! This Buddha is no buddha modelled in clay, or
carved in wood ; neither is he a buddha painted on paper, or
cast in brass. This Buddha is the model of the world, who
introduces us into the gates of the Law. The Buddha of whom
I speak is the Buddha who preached the Law in the park of
(prince) Teta for the benefit of men and Devas. Buddha is
Intelligence, and Intelligence is Wisdom ; the man who pos-
sesses the spiritual Intelligence which gives Wisdom, can study
(that Law), master it, and practise it. This is the bright
Buddha, venerable, pure, who appears by the cultivation of
your own minds."

Then follows the second and third Refuge, closing with
the words :

"Buddha, Dharma and Sangha" (ff, fi fff, the Triratua
of Buddhism, called San-pao H K, or ''Three Precious Ones" ) ;
"believe in them and admit them into your hearts. Ye may
not seek them outside yourselves ; ye may not find them out-
side you. ' '

The first part of the initiation is herewith finished, and the
candidates by confidently and reverently throwing themselves
into the arms of Buddha, his Law and his Community, have
formally entered the Church. The way to Salvation now lies
open before them ; but no progress can be made on it unless
by a faithful obedience to the principal Commandments. So
these have to be solemnly accepted.

"The three-fold Refuge having now been taken," thus
the Initiator continues, "listen to the five Commandments and
accept them. According to the first of these, it is not allowed
to kill any living being or destroy any life. This Command-
ment bears upon benevolence (•£:). The Highest (heaven) has
for its fundamental property the love for all that lives ; the
(^ancient) Sages also had a compassionate and sympathetic heart ;
for Qakya and the old Patriarch, compassion and pity were the
starting point, and the means to reacli Salvation were their gate.

550 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

See, the four classes of living beings that move in the six roads
of transmigration, were in the past ages corporeal men, who
because of greed or error did not awake ; they heard (the
doctrine) preached, but did not turn heads ; hence on losing
their human bodies (at death) they fell in the revolutions of the
wheel of transmigration. Therefore, ye abstainers who accept
the Commandments, I exhort you, before all things, learn to
make compassion and pity your starting point, and Salvation
your gate, and earnestly remember that you may kill no living
creatures, nor destroy any lives. ' '

Next comes the second Commandment, bearing upon
righteousness (^) : do not commit theft ; the third Command-
ment, which answers to ceremonious conduct (}jg) • be not
lustful ; the fourth Commandment, bearing upon knowledge
(^) : be not light in conversation ; and lastly the fifth Com-
mandment, which bears upon belief (0) : do not use strong
flavoured vegetables and alcoholic liquors. Under this last
commandment we find the remarkable statement : Siu-che-nei-
shi-t'ien-t'ang ; puh-sin-tsin-shi-ti-yuh (ffl^^75:S5c^7fi
SS S ife M)) "They who believe, shall gain the celestial halls,
but they who have no faith, shall go to hell."*

After furthermore inculcating the six prescriptions of the
Sage Edict, viz., "show submissive devotion and obedience to
thy parents, honour and respect thy superiors, foster unity and
harmony in village life, instruct thy children and grand-
children, quietly apply thyself to thy trade, commit no wrong ;"
the attendants solemnly chant a verse, and then the Initiator
proceeds in exhorting them to remain stedfast and by no
means to lend an ear to the opinion of outsiders. Fearing that
in the long course of years their hearts may go astray they are
required to pronounce a curse, closing with the words : ' ' Should
I do any of these things, then may each time such and such a
curse befall me in punishment."

At this imprecation of evil, which everyone may make as
terrible as he likes, all bystanders exclaim : 0-mi-t'o-fah
(PrI 5S P£ #)) ^-^M Buddha Amita. Then the novices invoke
their Lord Buddha and other deities of their faith to be present
and to witness their doings clearly.

After the oath or vow has been taken, the Initiator utters
a series of wishes for the welfare of the new disciples, which

* It would be interesting to learn whether this or any sect ever had any
connection with Christianity.

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 551

are followed by a unanimous 0-mi-t'o-fah, resounding through
the hall, and the prostrate novices, to thank him, bow their
beads three times to the earth. A general Sutra-reading brings
the whole ceremony to an end.

This initiation-ritual, taken almost verbathn^ though a
good deal shortened, from Chapter VII of De Groot's Book,
bears evidence in itself that it is no invention of some small,
isolated religious club, but rather the property of the whole
IvUng-hwa religion. As a matter of fact it is nothing else, as
De Groot shows convincingly, than a subdivision of the con-
secration-ritual of Buddhist monks.

After their admission to the discipleship of Buddha, and in
order to promote their individual and mutual Salvation, the
newly initiated are expected to attend the religious meetings for
the worship of their Saints and Buddhas and for the reciting of
prayers. These meetings do not generally take place on fixed
dates, but at the convenience of the participators. Moreover,
the sect has a number of so-called Pai-king-jit (ff Si H )» or
days of worship, being calendar days devoted to the worship of
special Saints, altogether sixteen. On the four annual days,
specially devoted to Kwan-yin (^ •§) and Buddha Amita, a
meeting takes place, which is followed by an after-meeting,
called that of the Pan-ye shun (fg j^ j^\ "the Ship of Pradjna
or Wisdom," i.e., the highest of the Parami or perfections by
which Nirvana is reached.

"A small barge or boat of bamboo and paper, intended to
convey departed souls to the Paradise of the West, is placed in
the open court in front of the hall. The sails, flags and other
parts of the rigging are decorated with inscriptions bearing
upon this spirit journey. As the rudder is a paper effigy of
Kwan-yin, the high patroness of the Mahayana church, and as
such, supreme guide of its members on the road to Salvation.
Her satellite Kwan-shen-tsai holds the sheet, her female attend-
ant, called the Dragon's Dauo^hter, stands on the fore-ship,
holding up a streamer on whicli is written : Tsieh-yin-si-fang
(S §1 ?f ^)) ' ^^ admitted and introduced into the West' (the
Paradise). Several other Buddhist saints do duty as sailors.
Round this Bark of Mercy f^ %% the members of the sect range
themselves^ and under the guidance or not, as the case may be,
of one or more of their number, who are consecrated monks,
they hold a series of Sutra-readings, interspersed with invoca-
tions and Tantrani, to induce the holy Kwan-yin to take souls

552 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

on board and convey them to the land of bliss. And finally,
under the shont of O-niih-t'o, repeated many lumdred times,
the ship, with all its contents, is bnrned on the spot. Thus
through fire and flame the Bark of Wisdom plies right across
the sea of transmigration to the promised Nirvana, where the
highest Intelligence prevails. If the sea-shore is near, the bark
is sometimes launched there on a plank and allowed to drift
away with the tide. ' '

Another solemnity, performed on many of those festivals, is
called Pai-ts'ien-fat (|f -f* -^), " Veneration of the Thousand
Buddhas. " The object of this ^'veneration" is to obtain
pardon of sins by exciting internally, at the invocation of the
different Buddhas, a feeling of deep repentance. It is therefore
called "The Sutra of Repentance of the Names of a Thousand
Buddhas" (ill fS^t, « g).

As in the meeting-halls on days of worship, so in private
houses Sutra-readings form an essential part of the great practice
of Salvation. But strange to say the understanding has nothing
to do with the meritoriousness of the pious work. He who
proclaims the sacred books which make known the roads that
lead to Salvation is deserving in the highest degree. What
does it matter whether he understands what he recites ? The
mighty salvation-working power contained in the Sutra loses
nothing by it, and moreover — who can tell ? — perchance there
are myriads of unseen beings on the spot listening to the recital
and obtaining Salvation thereby.

Very zealous sectaries recite at least once a day ; many do
so twice in the morning and in the evening, not counting the
extra-readings on calendar feast-days and sundry special
occasions. Such occasions are times of sickness, or when the
realm is in danger; times of rebellion; birthdays of parents,
brothers and religious teachers ; and every seventh day after
their death until the forty-ninth ; meetings designed for the
seeking of Salvation by avoiding sin ; when travelling for one's
livelihood during conflagrations, inundations and epidemics,
etc., etc.

For those who cannot read, or cannot learn Sutras by heart,
there exists an easy and therefore very popular method of
obtaining Salvation. This consists in repeating hundreds and
thousands of times one and the same Saint's name, with the
prefix Nan-wu(f^* 3if.), which means "Hail," "Adoration, etc."
And here the name of Amita, the Lord of Paradise, is of

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 553

paramount efficacy. Women in particular try to gain Paradise
in this way, especially slave-women, who have no leisure hours
to set apart for religious exercises, but can at all times, while
engaged in their domestic work, easily mutter Nan-vvu 0-mi-
t'o-fah.

The sketch given so far would be incomplete if I should
not add a few words on the observances of the sect on behalf of
the dead. Here again we are indebted to Professor De Groot
for much reliable information, from which I select a few interest-
ing items.

Though Confucius and his school have written or said
nothing of importance on the life hereafter, the great question
which occupies the minds of the Chinese people, and especially of
those who strive after ideals, has always been : what will become
of my soul and body after death ? Its strong motive for joining
the sect is, with many, specially women without children, the
well-known fact that but for the religious community in which
they have taken refuge, only a trifling sum would be spent on
religious ceremonies on behalf of their departed souls. These
begin with the washing and dressing of the corpse by the mem-
bers of the sect. After this has been done, the saving-process
of the defunct begins.

The death of a Buddhist who walked in the path of Salva-
tion is called "deliverance from the ocean of earthly woe,'*
"transition from an existence of imperfection and misery to one
of perfection and felicity," and therefore a most joyful event.
Hence unless they are not members of the sect the relatives of
the deceased do not spend the day in loud wailing and weeping,
as Confucianism urgently prescribes ; and the inscriptions on
red paper adorning the doors of Chinese houses are not replaced,
as in the case of other people, by such on white paper as a sign
of mourning. Mock paper, which no ordinary Chinaman will
omit to burn in large quantities to enrich his departed in the
other world, is not used by the sect, as the Commandments of
their religion bid them loathe j^iches. According to the books
of the sect the inventor of this paper-money was plunged into
hell, as was the inventor of intoxicating drinks, and cannot
be delivered from there by any means whatever.

When the body has been placed in the coffin, a " document
for the journey home" (|f ^ -^ H), as it is called, is hung
round its neck. A copy of it is forwarded to its address in the
world of shades through Are. A series of letters to Kwau-yin,

554 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

Amita Buddha and other Saints of the sect is added to the
document, wishing the departed soul good speed. The coffin-
ing of the body and the nailing down of the lid is accompanied
with rigorous Sutra-reading, after which a service is celebrated,,
which has for its object to convey the soul into Paradise. It is
called IS H :fr) "Going or sending Home to the West." The
same allusions to Paradise and the journey thither are exhibited
on the banners carried in the burial procession by some mem-
bers of the sect or bald-headed boys. Some of them run thus :
^ tS ^ B " Ascend to the Realm of Highest Bliss ; " |{| If W ±
"Return Joyfully to the West ; " ^ 5| W ii "Be introduced
into the West" and others. In this connection "West"
always means Paradise.

On the way to the grave suitable verses are recited at
intervals until the grave is reached, when the members all unite
in one final rigorous recitation of Sutras and Nan-vvu 0-mi-t'oh-
fah (f§ % fnj 5B P£ ft)> therewith ending the whole ceremony.

I have done, and I hope I have not entirely failed in
showing you that sectarians in China are not merely idolaters
and nothing more. Many of them, no doubt, are foolish and
superstitious enough, but even such may often be more hope-
ful characters than the average Confucianist, who in his own
conceit denounces them all as "Heretics" (J[$ g^ A), and as
"Not Correct, Not Right" (;f: g; 7> S)> or as "Left Tao"
{& 5E)i that is to say, doctrines inferior to the one true ortho-
dox and classical Tao of antiquity. There is more inquiry,
receptiveness and earnestness among them than among any
other class in this land, ' ' Weary of a human society, where
selfishness, untruth and mercilessness reign supreme, they dream
of something better and higher and expect to find it in a
doctrine of Salvation founded on the Universal Law as it has
existed from all eternity, a Salvation obtainable by practising
that which destroys worldly evil, namely, compassion for all
that breathes, love of truth, continence, suppression of selfish
desires, prayer-reading, the seeking of help from Saints who
have already cast off the trammels of earthly woe. And,
prompted by the principle of universal altruism, they betake
themselves to their fellow-men to make them participate in the
blessings of Salvation by introducing them inttv the meetings
devoted to such pious work. And though the arm of the Law
has rudely interfered many a time with the rope, the scourging-
rod, and banishment. Sectarianism is not destroyed, but still

1906.] Seekers After God Amongst the Chinese. 555

stands a powerful witness to the fact that religion, nourished by
a desire for a higher good, dwells in the hearts of the Chinese
nation, nay abides therein as i\ fire which the rude foot of a
Confucian mandarinate is unable to trample out.'*

The "only living sinners in China" sectaries have been
called, which can only mean that their consciences are awake
and that their religious instincts feel unsatisfied by what the
three prevalent religions offer to them. As yet but little has
been done for them, though there is much encouragement to
work amongst them. Speaking of the Sien-t4en sect, De Groot
says, that its members showed a marked sympathy for the
Christian doctrine, and that he found a good number of them
somewhat acquainted with the Gospel, translations of which
were distributed by the missionaries all around with a free
hand. Some of his acquaintances knew whole passages of the
Bible by heart. He is quite sure that if missionaries would
make the sects their field of labour, converts would flock to
them in considerable numbers. A missionary who has known
some of the best and most consistent Christians to have been
once devoted followers of these sects, has expressed it as his
opinion that a large number, perhaps a majority of the most
thoughtful, devout and earnest seekers after God are to be
found amongst them. There is, I know very well, another
way of looking at the sects. The one presented to you in this
paper, is the sympathizing and favourable view, enabling us to
meet them in a Christ-like spirit, so that we may attract them
and lead them to know the living God for whom their souls cry
out unconsciously, that they may enjoy the unspeakable blessing
of communion with Him.

Paul was already several weeks in Europe, especially in Philippi, but there
was not yet an opening for the Gospel among the heathen. Paul made no
attempt to preach to the heathen ; he did not open a chapel, nor begin a
school ; * * * nor followed he any new plan which has to be rediscovered
before the world can come to an end. He prosecuted the truly apostolic
method ; he waited quietly until the Lord led the way. Not that I wish to
denounce modern methods. . . . Work R done by others than the apostles ;
there are also some good results from such work. But each worker has to ask
himself how much of his work is God's work and how much belongs to human
nature and to the fashion of this world which will perish with the present state
of things. Waiting till God leads on is not idleness ; he who waits for God
has to be on his watch and be prepared. Soldiers have their duties not only
in battle but before and after battle. Christ is our only leader. The order of
battle should come from Him. We should cautiously examine our own plans
in regard to their origin and nature. Let us be genuine followers of Christ. —
From Dr. Faber's " Paul the Apostle in Europe.''

556 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

ZTo tbe fIDcmor? of the IRcv^ 3. X. Wlblting, 2).®,*

BY REV. W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LI^.D.

Debarred by distance and the heat of the season from personal
attendance at the funeral of my lamented friend, I sent a short
address to be read on that occasion. It Was nearly in the following
words : —

There are few that feel the loss of Dr. Whiting's society more
than I — for nearly forty 3^ears we have been bound together by a
growing friendship. Happily the severance of such ties is not
eternaL When a sunken ship is raised to the surface her broken
chains are renewed. So in this instance the triumph of the last
enemy is not final i Christ has overcome the power of death and
given us an assured hope of a life beyond the grave. Let this hope
be our consolation ; and let it encourage us to follow the example
of faith and patience which we have had in the life of him for whom
we mourn.

A Christian strong in faith he was in every sense a strong man.
To a bodily frame of uncommon muscular force, he added a mind of
more than ordinary vigor. Keenly logical in his mental habits,
his favorite studies were theolog}^ and metaphysics. It was this
taste that led him to render into Chinese the great work of Dr.
McCosh on the Divine Government, a work which now that China
is waking from her lethargy, may yet serve to resolve the doubts
and to confirm the faith of her inquiring scholars.

For a task of this kind Dr. Whiting was well qualified by a
superior knowledge of the classic language. His command of the
spoken Chinese — the mandarin of Peking — was also well nigh perfect.

Of his manifold labors, there is no time at present to speak in
detail. We may, however, affirm that in the pulpit, as a preacher ;
in the class room, as a teacher of theology ; and in itineration, in
contact with strangers, he everywhere impressed the Chinese as a
man of more than ordinary earnestness and power.

It was a warm-hearted letter of Dr. Whiting (written last year
from Shun-te-fu, where he was planting a new station) that induced
me to think of renewing my connexion with the Peking mission.
On my arrival no one gave me a warmer welcome, and to me the
prospect of spending together the evening of a busy life was very
pleasing. For him alas ! how soon the sunset ! For me how deep
the disappointment !

To both oi us a wise providence had assigned not the short
trial of martyrdom which we so narrowly escaped, but the harder
task of " bearing a heavy burden over a long road."

*For some months Dr. Whiting had been in feeble health ; but at Peitaiho
he appeared to rally, and he seemed to forget his own ailments in the interest
which he felt in the hopeful changes now taking place in China. His friends
too had begun to anticipate for him a new lease of life. But on Saturday, the
25th inst., they were startled to hear that he had been found dead in the
shallow water at the beach. lyike Bishop Heber, he expired in his bath.
Heart failure is given as the cause. He was, I think, in the 72nd 5'ear of
his age, and the 38th of his missionary life, having arrived in 1869.

1906.] In Memoriam. 557

Farewell my friend and brother ! You have found rest at 'r„,'i
in the joy of our Lord, while I, though older than you, am left to
tread the dusty road. To this adieu, it is, thank God, the Christian's
privilege to add an a2t revoir as we look to the day, not far distant,
when we shall meet again.

No new recruit can fill the place of an experienced veteran,
but let me express the hope that our new recruits will rise to the
height of the fallen leader. May they, like him, be men of trained
talent and of untiring devotion to the cause of our Master.

Pearl Grotto, near Peking, August 27th, 1906.

3n fnemorlam*— fIDre, HUce ©• 2)avl9.

BY REV. HAMPDEN C. DUBOSE, D.D.

At the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 1876, two young
lady visitors were introduced to each other by a mutual friend,
and casually in conversation they found out that each was
considering the question of offering herself for work in China.
From that day their souls were "knit" together. They were
appointed together by the Presbyterian Board in New York ; they
came together to China, arriving February, 1878 ; they were married
at the same time, December 4th, 1878 ; and together they spent most
of their missionary life in Soochow. The one was Mrs. Alice S.
Parker, the classic scholar, the gifted teacher, the earnest labourer
and charming friend, who entered into rest in the summer of 190 1.
The other, the subject of this sketch, was Mrs. Alice S. Davis, the
wife of Rev. John W. Davis, D.D., who died March loth, 1906, iu
the 56th year of her age.

Left an orphan in her early years, Mrs. Davis was adopted by
her maternal aunt, the wife of Rev. James A. Reed, D.D., who
for ten years preached at Wooster, Ohio, and afterwards for twenty
years was the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Springfield,
Illinois. Her home associations were with the Manse — its sacred
environments, its multitudinous calls, its ministrataions in sorrow,
its social duties, its literary surroundings, its ministerial visitors,
and its holy influences. Suffice it to say our friend was a pattern
of good works to the youth of the church, with whom she was a
great favourite.

Her gifts and graces specially shone forth after she had a home
of her own. Quick in her movements, active in her labors, gentle
in her manners, joyful in her disposition, merry in her conversation,
prudent in her speech, helpful to her neighbors, weeping in sorrow
as easily as a child, a kind nurse by the sick bed, a lover of
hospitality, she stretched out her hand to the poor, looked well to
the ways of her own household, and husband and children blessed
and praised her.

She loved the Chinese people and exerted a wholesome influence
over those with whom she came in contact. She spoke well iu the
native tongue, and her two day-schools were of a high order of

558 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

excellence. She was always at her place by the organ at service,
and exhorted the women to choose that good part which shall never
be taken away from them. Her love of her chosen work continued
to the end. Her pastor, Rev. O. A. Hills, D.D., wrote after her
departure that " her interest in missions was constant and deep. A
few weeks before her death, at a meeting of the Ladies' Missionary
Society which she attended, all were impressed by a prayer in which
she showed a deep insight into the Chinese situation and a warm
concern for the success of Chinese missions."

As a mother the finest traits of her character were displayed.
Self-denying almost to a fault, watching over her children with
anxious solicitude, joining most heartily in their sports, aiding
in their education, never seeking her own but that which was
beneficial to them, with wise counsel and holy example she strove
to fit them for the highest possible sphere of influence in the church
which she loved so dearly.

When they returned home to school she went too and abode
with them in Wooster, Ohio, the home of her childhood, where she
made a home for them. Though in feeble health for some years
her great desire was to come back to China to join her husband at
the Theological Seminary at Nanking and her son. Prof. John W.
Davis, and bright and cheery were her letters, full of expectant
hope of the famil)' reunion in July. But just before the graduation
of her daughter, Miss Alice, while seeking the mild winter in the
"Sunny South," at the home of her brother-in-law, the Rev. W.
H. Davis, pastor of Sharon Church, she was called to a heavenly
mansion and her body was laid to rest in the beautiful Klmwood
Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina, awaiting a glorious resurrec-
tion.

One by one the little band, who in the seventies laboured in
Soochow, are "gathering home."

Soochow.

3n flDemoriam.

REV. M. B, DUNCAN, M.A., LL.D. (G1.ASG0W).

BY REV. K. MORGAN.

Every life has its pathos. None more so than that which is
cut off in its prime. Particularly is this felt in the case of those who
are stricken down in the midst of great usefulness with lives rich
in varied experience and minds that have reached the culmination
of their powers. Equipped as they are to do " greater things ' '
and ready to exhibit to the full those powers with which they have
been purposely endowed to help and lead their fellow-men, their
early death brings a keen sense of poignant grief. Though we may
|iot question the inexorable decrees that regulate human life never-
theless we stand perplexed before such apparent wasteful extra-
vagance of nature. Such are the suggestions that spring up when

1906.] In Memoriam. 559

we think of the death of our friend, Dr. Moir Duncan. The years
of his life were lived strenuously, leading us to expect much more in
the coming years than even he had accomplished in the past.

In his case truly "the child was father of the man." For
as a lad working on his father's farm he felt the irresistible call
of the vaster world and saw a horizon wider than that which
bounded his early surroundings. He early responded to the prompt-
ings of nature. The resolution to seek a larger field of influence
and opportunities was matched by a will equal to overcoming all
the difficulties that stood in the way. It was by no means easy for
him to link himself with the larger world. Early left an orphan
he had to fight his way from obscurity to publicity, from a very
circumscribed sphere to one of much larger influence and power.
His advantages were few, and after some years' business experience
he entered the Baptist College of Scotland and graduated in arts in
the University of Glasgow, taking prizes in English and philosophy.
He also took the science course, but without a degree. From
Glasgow he proceeded to Mansfield College, Oxford. Principal
Fairbairn was much impressed by his great ability and equal
industry. As a student his force of character was always felt.
He particularly appealed to young men in his preaching. What-
ever he did, was done thoroughly. When in Oxford he also studied
Chinese under Dr. Legge and obtained an insight into the style
of Weu-li before he knew anything of Mandarin. He thus, in every
way, endeavoured to obtain the best he was able to get, in order that
he might give the best he could to China. He looked upon the
missionary calling in a serious light and early realized the im-
portance of a thorough education to meet the many possibilities of
effective service he knew awaited him. He arrived in China in
the winter of 1887. It was characteristic of the man that almost
the first thing he did, was to have the brick floor of his rooms
scrubbed with soap and water, but to very little purpose ! He
vigorously applied himself to the study of Chinese, and to such
effect that his Peking examiner, himself on the revision Committee,
suggested after the results of the third year's examination that
Mr. Duncan should represent his mission on the mandarin version.
He obtained the command of a large vocabulary, though it always
had a little flavour of being "high." As in everything else he
was a rapid speaker, and the Chinese early christened him the
jl ft, viz., ft 1%, ft :^, t^ IJ. Moreover he had a splendid work-
ing knowledge of the classics. He had at command all the extracts
necessary to clinch an argument or enforce a truth. He was thus
formidable in discussion and powerful in debate, both in English and
Chinese. His mind was keen and his knowledge fairly extensive.
And the Chinese soon learnt to be careful and cautious in their
discussions with him. His propositions were generally based on
reason, and his language was ever forceful. He had not been many
years in Tai-yuan-fu before he was transferred to the new work in
Shensi to organize in conjunction with others the church and spread
the Gospel amongst the emigrants that poured into these parts from
Shantung and other provinces.

The church in Shensi owes much to his initiative and insight.
The foundations of a self-supporting, self-propagating church were

560 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

well laid and much of the success and prosperity of that work is
owing to his energy and foresight. The Boxer rising compelled a
withdrawal to Shanghai, and soon after arriving there Mr. Duncan
joined the British forces as an interpreter. When the way was
opened he with others left for Tai-yuan-fu to settle up the tangled
affairs of our mission ; these were placed on a satisfactory footing
in the course of a few weeks. He hurried away from vShansi to
Sliensi to attend to the pressing duties of famine relief. That
province was sorely stricken by a serious famine. Fortunately the
American fund proved adequate to the calls upon it. Mr. Duncan
took a leading part in the organization of relief ; many lives
were saved and widespread suffering relieved. Then the call
came to undertake the duties of principal of the Shansi
Imperial University. He had always a desire to work among
students and the higher classes, so he felt all the more ready to
accept this invitation to Shansi. It was, however, no easy task
he had to face. He had to organize the institution ab initio.
Every detail, even to the mending of a roof, had to be supervised ;
he had to interview students and arrange plans with the officials.
The courses of study had to be mapped out and classes had to be
arranged. He had to establish the new and conciliate the old.
It was easy to arrange matters with a sympathetic and enlightened
governor, but unfortunately these did not stay long. It was, how-
ever, difficult to struggle with obstinate and self-willed men, as
many of the authorities proved to be. But Mr. Duncan brought the
institution to a state of efficiency in education and discipline
in conduct which elicited the admiration even of enemies. As a
missionary and the principal of a college he proved himself equal to
every situation, and whatever he did, was done well and efficiently.
He was so successful as an organizer, because he paid such attention
to details. Whether dealing with boys in elementary schools or
more advanced students in the university ; whether attending to
the statistics of a small country church, or recording the affairs
of a university, there was always the same care evident in every
detail. The whole was so complete because the parts were
so perfect. If genius is but attention to details he had it in
abundance.

His energy was immense. He could not sit still ; both mind
and body were ever on the move. Visiting churches and maturing
plans he was incessant in his activities. Old things wore a new
aspect when he handled them. No meeting was dull when he was
there. He always circulated his ideas ; men's minds had always
something to think about. If there was nothing else to be done,
he would have a special meeting for the discussion of the best means
for improving church funds. As the Chinese said, he was a good tax
gatherer for the church. The virility of his mind gave an impetus
to all his actions. As an admiring student once said : "You can
know from the way he walks that he means to do great things for
China." ** Attempt great things" was ever his motto, but he
equally held that great things would be successfully accomplished
only as attention was paid to small things. It was characteristic of
him that difficulties but increased his determination to overcome
them, and no obstacle prevented his attaining a desired goal. He

1906.] In Memoriam. S6l

would cross swollen rivers and ride all day in pouring: rain to
attend a committee meeting, which could be postponed. His excess
of zeal and energy often led him into trouble in travelling, and
often he found that the old saying was true, "More haste less
speed."

Yet he was ever ready to listen to the opinion of others, and
if he found they were better than his own to follow them. He
was a loyal fellow-worker, and always rejoiced in the gifts of
others. He greatly loved freedom of action. What he claimed for
himself he gave to others. "Let each have liberty to do his own
work in the way he thinks best and let all cooperate in divers ways
towards the one great end," was a saying of his. His mental outlook
was wide and his disposition generous. Naturally such a character
could not be without a strong element of ambition. Some felt a
feeling of aloofness in his presence, and that it was not easy to get
near enough to understand him.

As a teacher he always endeavoured to find the principles
underlying every question. He was not satisfied with stating the
surface ideas of any problem, but he would probe deeper and
endeavour to state the reason for every proposition advanced.
He faithfully followed Professor Caird's advice in dealing with every
subject and tried to discuss all questions without the personal
factor. His work at the University commanded such confidence
and respect for that very reason. He endeavoured to act according
to reason rather than feeling. Such a method of course gave great
offence in many quarters, for the method clashed with the usual
Chinese idea of " f ace " and " jen-ch*ing." But in the end students
and patrons had to confess that Dr. Duncan " acted earnestly "
and only in the public interest. When the governor's nephew was
refused admittance as such, and had to pass by the usual door,
students saw at last a man they could trust, though they felt his
severity in other ways. He had a great deal of the statesman's
intuition. He did not always demand all he would like done, but
only what he felt was possible. He weighed circumstances and
acted accordingly. In facing people he w^as ever bold to express his
opinions. Yet with all his fearlessness in expressing and maintain-
ing his views there was a strain of cautiousness in his line of action
that often gave the impression of timidity. Dr. Duncan died com-
paratively young, and we wonder what might have been if his life
had been prolonged. As it is he has won a high name, both as
missionary and educationist. The past achievements gave promise
of still great possibilities in the future. But he was cut off in the
prime of life with mellowed powers, and ripened experience,
which would prove of such incalcukible help to China in her present
condition. He was not permitted, however, "to grow old and
enjoy the best which is to be, the last of life for which the first
was made." It was a bitter disappointment to him. But tow^ards
the end he cheerfully accepted the inevitable. He looked on death
calmly, he felt tired and wanted rest. As we mourn for our
departed comrade, we would drink in the spirit that animated
him. "It is better to burn out than rust out," was one of
his sayings.

562

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

Church Praise Department.

Rev. I. Genahr, writing from Hongkong, on 23rd August,
says : —

* * The comparison of the three versions of the Glory Song
have been very interesting to me, as I have translated the same
myself last year for church use in Hongkong. I send you a copy
of it in case you want to reprint it. I add a translation of Miss
HavergaPs beautiful hymn, *' True-hearted, ' * which I have also
translated last year for the Y. M. C. A. (Chinese Department)
of Hongkong. As far as I know this hymn has never been
translated into Chinese.

'^THE GLORY SONG/'

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1906.] Church Praise Department. 563

"TRUE-HEARTED, WHOLE-HEARTED."

BY FRANCES HAVERGAL.

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Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the ** Educational Association of China.

Why Students do not enter Christian Work.

BY REV. J. H. JUneON, HANGCHOW.

A GREAT deal is being said these days about our Mission
educational institutions not furnishing as many young
men for Christian work as they ought to, or perhaps
rather not as many as they did in former years. That there has
been a great decrease from among our Christian graduates who
are offering themselves for Christian work is a fact that can-
not be denied. No one is more coo:nizant of it and feels it more

564 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

keenly than tho.se who are engaged exclusively in educational
work. The reason of this decrease is not due, as we think, to
any changes in administration or methods. We believe that for
the most part no radical changes have been made. Just as much
religious teaching is given now as in former years ; the high
calling of the ministry or Christian service of any kind is held
up before the students with as much emphasis and as frequently
as ever. The reason of this scarcity must be traced to some
other sources than to the administration or methods within the
institutions themselves. The teaching of English is generally
given as the paramount reason. Doubtless this has been a great,
if not the greatest, cause which has turned aside so many
young men from Christian work into secular callings. But it
is no longer an English education alone that is doing this.
Our graduates, being well trained in mathematics, physics,
chemistry and kindred subjects are in just as great demand as
those with an English education. A large number of our
graduates, who have no knowledge of English, are teaching the
above branches in Chinese in government and private schools
and receiving a salary as large, if not larger, than the teachers
of English, so that it is not English alone that is taking our
young men away from Christian work.

To the mind of the writer the cause is solely found in the
great radical change that has been coming over the whole
empire within the last decade and reached its climax within the
last two years. The doors of the secular callings have been
thrown open wide ; the demand for well educated young men along
all lines, especially as teachers, is far beyond the supply ; while
the remuneration given in any of these positions is far beyond
what was ever dreamt of a few years ago. As a natural result
of all this a vast wave of commercialism has swept over the
country, taking with it our college graduates. There was a
time when in indenturing students a clause was inserted to the
effect that the mission would not guarantee any employment to a
student after graduation. It was then thought wise to insert
such a clause as a safeguard, because every young man, after
finishing his course, expected the mission to provide for him
some position. It was quite natural, for his education had
unfitted him for any other work except work in the mission.
There was scarcely anything else that he could do. At that
time it was extremely desired that the day would soon come
when there would be other openings, and now that day has

1906.] Educational Department. 565

come in full force. The tide has turned, and it is now suggested
that a clause be inserted in indentures to the opposite effect,
binding our students to enter upon Christian work after gradua-
tion, or else refund the entire cost of their education. But we
think that young men are not so called into the Lord's service.

Such periods of scarcity of candidates for Christian work
are not unknown in home lands. Judging from articles appear-
ing in American papers, it would seem that the present is just
such a period in various churches in that land. The writer was
led just recently to go over the roll of the alumni of one of the
leading universities of the Presbyterian Church (North). This
institution has the name, and that justly, of sending a large
percentage of her graduates into the ministry. The investiga-
tion covered the years from 1871 to 1904 inclusive and showed
that a trifle over twenty-five per cent, of the graduates for that
period had entered the ministry. The roll of one mission
institution at least, and doubtless others, showed an equally good
record for the same years. The strange fact is that the record for
the last six years (1899-1904) shows a falling off of just one-half
or only twelve and a half per cent. , a condition of things quite
parallel to that with which we are now meeting here in our
work in China. Hence this scarcity of candidates for Christian
work is not peculiar to China or China's young men. The
question naturally arises, Can anything be done, and if so, what?
It is quite certain that in China as well as in our home lands
Christian workers cannot be turned out to order as a piece of
work from a turning lathe. We firmly believe that after all
the only efiectual thing that can be done is to keep on working
with and praying with and for our students, especially those from
Christian families, praying the Lord of the harvest that He will
send forth more laborers into the harvest.

The Cost of Higher Education.

(Contributed.)

IN this day of schools after the Western model, new
educational questions are coming up for discussion and
settlement, and it is important that judgment should be
given only after thorough study and clear knowledge of the
subject. Too often opinions are expressed hastily that are very
far from the truth, and hence are very misleading. To judge
the new educational system, that system must be understood.

566 The Chinese Recorder. [October,

It is impossible to judge fairly if we only take the old system
for our guidance.

One matter that has called for much comment is the cost of
education in the schools of new learning. Many who have
attempted to establish such schools have failed, because they
did not first ** count the cost," Government officials complain
that funds are lacking to establish the schools ordered by the
Throne. Yet many who pay only a very moderate tuition fee
are often heard to complain that education costs too much, that
only the rich can hope to gain the higher education that the
times demand.

In view of these complaints it is worth while to give some
thought to this question. There is a great difference between
the school of new learning and the old system that has prevailed
in China for ages past. Formerly the school was in the home.
A teacher was engaged to instruct the children of the family.
For this the one teacher was sufficient. The course of study
was limited to the history and literature of China. To master
this and then learn to express the results of study in a graceful
Wen-chang, — this was all.

Now a glance at the catalogue of any of the new schools
will show that there is now a much wider curriculum. While
the history and literature of China are still studied, in addition
to these there is a long list of new subjects. Learning is no
longer confined to China ; it embraces the world. So instead
of the one teacher in the old family school, now ten or fifteen
are necessary in any modern school of higher education. It is
simply impossible for one teacher, though he may be a man of
ever so much learning, to teach successfully all the subjects
embraced in the curriculum of the present day-school.

So, instead of the old family school, we have now a large
number of students, sometimes several hundred, gathered in
one place. They come from different sections of the country
and usually have no previous acquaintance with each other.
The school is the attraction. Here the students are divided up
into classes and each teacher gives instruction in his depart-
ment at regular hours. Effort is made to so arrange studies' and
classes as that each student shall get the greatest amount
of profit. Each teacher is supposed to be thorough in the
department assigned to him. And as thoroughly trained men
each of these teachers in the new school will require a much
higher salary than was paid under the old system. We may

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 567

not appreciate the reason for this, but it is a fact, and one
that must be considered in counting up the cost of higher
education.

Another item that calls for large expenditure is the school
buildings and dormitories, together with the large grounds for
drilling and athletic sports necessary for the large body of
students. Special attention has been given to the construction
of such buildings in other parts of the world that they may be
thoroughly adapted to their use. Architects have devised a
special class of buildings ; particular attention being given to
light and ventilation. For either to be inadequate hinders
instruction and damages the health of the student. In school
work we cannot ignore the old adage of '*a sound mind in a
sound body." Hence the great improvement in the architecture
of school buildings within the past twenty-five years. China can
hardly be content with less than the best. She will demand
the very best for her sons and daughters ; for anything less will
be a hindrance to the cause of education. But this best can
only be gained at large expense, which adds much to the cost
of higher education.

Instruction in modern schools, especially in the different
branches of natural science, demands much apparatus. It is
impossible to give satisfactory instruction without this. Many
of the instruments needed are very costly, and in any well
equipped school several thousand dollars at the least must be
expended under this head. In many of the larger universities
of the United States tens of thousands of dollars have been
expended for apparatus of different kinds necessary and helpful
for instruction.

Now when we begin to sum up the various items of
expense necessary to establish a new learning school of high
grade, we find that the tuition fees paid by the student utterly
fail to meet the cost. In fact, the student who pays the highest
rate of tuition that is charged in China to-day probably does not
pay one-half the cost of the instruction that he is receiving.
The other half must be provided in some other way, or the
school must die.

In illustration of this take a representative school where
the ttcition fee is $65.00 per annum. The other fees, such
as for board, uniforms, etc., are for the necessary food and
clothing of the student and are outside of the tuition fee and
should not be confused with it. These fees add nothing what-

568 The Chinese Recorder. [Odobei,

ever to the income of the institution. The total expense of the
school to-day for one year, including salaries of teachers, native
and foreign, interest on money invested, general running
expenses, etc., is about $25,000.00. Now with 100 students in
attendance, each paying full $65.00 tuition, each man pays but
little more than one-fourth of the cost of the instruction that he
is receiving. With 200 students in attendance the expense
would be increased somewhat ; still each student would pay a
little larger per cent, of the cost of instruction, but still barely

one-half. Now what is true of the University is true

of all schools for higher education everywhere. No such
school can depend upon tuition fees for all of its expenses.
There must be some other resource.

If we thus study the cost of higher education we can
understand why governments, with few exceptions, make no
attempt to furnish this higher training, but confine their elSbrts
to the ij^ and tf schools. To illustrate, take the government
schools of America. The government has a military school at
West Point, New York, for the training of officers for the army
and a naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, for the training
of officers for the navy. These schools are both of high grade,
but their special business is to train men for government service.
They can receive only a limited number of students. The
tuition is free, and each student is also furnished with an annual
allowance for board, clothes, etc. But each graduate must
take his place in the army or navy and serve for a certain
number of years in return for his training.

In the different States of America taxes are levied for educa-
tional purposes, and these taxes are expended in founding >J^
and tf schools, which are free to all children of school age. In
1898 the number of children, male and female, in the United
States, from five to eighteen years of age, were estimated at
20,865,377. Of this number 14,379,078 were enrolled in the
government schools. The idea is that each child should have
sufficient education to manage his own affairs and to make
an intelligent citizen. The people are taxed to provide this
much education to all children of school age ; no tuition fees are
required.

But, except in very few instances, there is no attempt on
the part of the government to provide for the higher education.
A few of the States have established colleges where tuition is
free, but in the large majority, even of these State colleges,

1906.] Educational Department. 569

tuition fees are charged. In 1898, out of more than 400 schools
of higher grade in the United States, only forty gave free
tuition. Of these forty, twelve were theological schools estab-
lished by the churches to train men for the ministry, and six
more were also church schools with free tuition. Fourteen
were ' government schools established by taxing the people,
two were for Negroes and Indians, and the remaining six were
free schools established by private individuals. But in these
schools only tuition was free ; board and all other expenses must
be met by the students. In all the other schools besides these
forty tuition fees were charged.

The attempt of the government of China to establish schools
of higher grade, not only with free tuition, but also free board
and money to meet the students' general expenses, has already
proved a burden too heavy to be borne. To establish a general
system of schools of high grade on this basis will demand the
expenditure of a larger sum of money than the government can
afford. If this system is persisted in, only very few schools of
higher grade can be opened, and so only comparatively few
students can be accommodated. But there are signs of a
change. When the new Board of Education gets seriously to
work, the great expense will compel them to adopt some
other plan.

In the United States the schools of high grade all have an
endowment fund, which is invested in different ways ; the inter-
est only being used to meet the expenses of the school. This
fund, together with the tuition fees, forms the income of the
school. The value of these endowments varies considerably.
Six of the largest universities have an endowment of over
$10,000,000. There are twenty, whose endowment is over
$2,000,000, but less than $10,000,000, while there are thirty-
three institutions with endowments between $1,000,000 and
$2,000,000. The endowments of other schools vary from
$10,000 to several hundred thousand dollars. Without these
endowment funds it would be impossible to carry on these great
schools with anything like their present efficiency, if at all.

These large endowments are, in nearly every case, the gifts
of wealthy men for the advancement of education. Notable
gifts, ranging from $1,000,000, to $14,000,000, have been made
by single individuals to the different institutions of learning.
These large amounts have enabled these great schools to provide
every needed equipment, to arrange courses of study covering

570 The Chinese Recorder. f October,

the whole field of knowledge, to secure the very best men for
positions on their faculties. When the wealthy men of China
come to take the same view of educational work, when they so
fully appreciate its value as to make liberal gifts for its advance-
ment, then we can expect to see higher education flourish in
China as in other lands. It is simply impossible to build up
a great institution of learning without a large sum of money.
The cost of higher education is not yet understood in China.

Hence it is just this side of the question — the cost — for
which no adequate preparation has been made. The general
idea seems to be that if China decides to have this higher
education for her sons and daughters, but little more is neces-
sary. At most build a school house, engage a few teachers,
and the work is done. There is no real preparation for the
continuance and growth of the school. The items of income
set aside by the government for the support of its schools, as
for instance the profits of the mint, are often such as cannot
be relied on. Should they fail to yield a sufiicient income, the
school must either be closed or be conducted in an unprofitable
manner. Where schools are established by individuals the
whole amount of money appropriated is usually expended in
buildings and equipment, in getting the school started, while
nothing is provided for its continuance. Hence the vacillating
policy, the constant change, that we see in educational matters.
Schools opened last year are closed this ; they do not live and
grow. They die, and the money and time expended on them
is simply wasted. Those, then, who would establish high grade
schools, should first ^^ count the cost.'''' It is well to keep in
mind that we " cannot get something for nothing." Only the
gambler expects to do this. There is nothing more valuable
in any country than a thorough educational system. Such a
system is of far greater value than a large army or a strong
navy. Yet millions of dollars are expended on army and navy,
while the attempt is being made to build up and forward the
educational system of the Empire through the expenditure of a
few hundreds of thousands of taels. A cheap educational
system always means inefficient work. The experience of all the
nations that have attempted to build up educational systems will
only tell China that this great and important work can only be
accomplished by a large outlay of money. Also that if this
work is done effectually, then both government and people
must unite in the effort.

1906.] Educational Department. 571

The English Methodist College, Ningpo.

NINGPO has ever shown itself to be a wide-awake and
enterprising city. It has been a centre of educational and
commercial activity for many years, and in these days
when, throughout the empire. Sovereign, officials, and people are
straining every nerve towards the attainment of a more modern and
efficient system of education, it would be surprising indeed if
Ningpo were not found in the front rank of the reformers. The
visitor to Ningpo will not be disappointed in this respect. In the
city he will find half a dozen large colleges supported by the gentry,
the officials, the Educational Society, or by the various Missions,
as well as over a hundred small schools. As he passes up the river,
before reaching the Settlement, he will see, some distance beyond the
right bank of the river, three imposing buildings. The first of these
is the Ningpo College, which owes its existence to the enterprise and
ability of Mr. Robert Fitch, but which is now entirely under the
control of the local gentry. The third and most prominent build-
ing as seen from the river is the Roman Catholic College. The
central building is the English Methodist College, and, as will be
seen from the photograph on the opposite page, although somewhat
smaller than the other two buildings, it is not without architectural
beauty.

The land in which it stands is twenty mow in area. The
building itself is one hundred and fifty -four feet long and
fifty-two feet deep. On the ground floor in the centre of the
building is the reception room, flanked on either side by business
offices. Behind these rooms lies the dining hall, a .spacious room,
admirably suited for its purpose. Branching off from this on either
side are the central corridors leading to the class-rooms, which are
twelve in number. The principal room on the upper story is the
chapel, which occupies the whole of the centre of the building. It
will seat two hundred and fifty worshippers. On this story, too, are
sixteen bedrooms and dormitories, which are capable of giving sleep-
ing accommodation for more than seventy students. Behind the
main building are commodious servants' quarters, lavatories, and
other buildings.

The total cost of the buildings, including the Principal's resid-
ence, which will shortly be erected, will be about $33,000.

Although the College building has only recently been opened,
the work is of long standing. The present institution is the
development of a school founded by Rev. F. Galpin many years
ago, and owes its present form largely to the labours of Rev. G. W.
Sheppard, who for several years preceding the year 1904 was in
charge of it.

The full course of study for graduates of the College involves
seven years' residence, but students may become graduates of the
Preparatory Department who have spent four years therein. As far
as possible equal stress is laid upon Chinese and Western subjects,
and the students' time is equally divided between them. Instruction
in Western subjects is largely given in English.

572

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

Mr. H. S. Redfern, M. Sc, the Principal of the College, is ably
assisted by Mr. Yuen I^i-teng, a graduate of St. John's College, and
by five assistant masters. At present there are about sixty-three
students in residence. There seems to be every prospect that in its
new home the work will spread and grow and become a powerful
factor in the extension of Christ's kingdom in China.

Our Book Table.

^W^X^'^mm- I^^n't say " It is
hard to embrace Christianity." ^ ^
yf'^M Wt' Don't put off accepting
Christianity. Kf,i^n f"l 1^ it #■
What is the most important thing
in the world ? Rev. I. Genahr.
Hongkong Religious Tract Society.
2 cash each.

Three sheet tracts on impor-
tant subjects. The style is easy
Wen-li, very clear and scholarly,
and the subject matter is an
urgent exhortation to believe the
Gospel. Tract No. 2 has in the
second last line the phrase ^ ^
fIP:$> "Quickly get ready." fjj
does not seem the right character
to use in this connection.

J. D.

Nying Ing Lih Yuing Z-we.

This is a reprint of an English
and Chinese Diciio?iary which
was first published by Miss M.
Laurence in 1884. It contains
nearly seven thousand characters,
arranged in the first part of the
book according to the radicals,
and in the latter part according
to their sounds, with brief defini-
tions in English and in Ningpo
colloquial. The book was pre-
pared with the object of helping
Chinese to increase their knowl-
edge of the English language,
and also to assist foreigners in
acquiring the Ningpo colloquial.
The experience of more than
twenty years has proved its
adaptedness to both these ends,

and many will welcome its
republication at this time. It
should find a large sale among
the Chinese in their present eager
quest of English, and no for-
eigner who is studying the Ning-
po dialect should be without a
copy.

J. R. G.

General Complete Geography, tl* ^- S
^ ttfJ Sl'. 2 vols. Translated from
the Japanese by ^|. % ^ :$ ^ % g.
$1.50.

These handsome two volumes,
quarto size, will be a source of
delight and information to young
and old in China. In the fully
two hundred illustrations the
reader is taken to many countries,
meets with man}- different kinds
of people, sees many curious
animals, and learns many inter-
esting customs, etc. A special
feature has evidently been made
of the maps. There are ten
large colored maps, also colored
charts showing the times and
flags of different nations.

The Geography seems well up
to date ; we note the treaty
between Japan and Russia, late
Customs reports and recent Eu-
ropean political changes. Of 120
sections 25 are devoted to China.
We hope to have its value as a
school book referred to in a future
issue.

M.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

573

^^^h^-m^^^^' Illustrated
Chinese National Readers, No. i.
B}' Ma Kuin-fu, Methodist Pub-
lishing House. 25 cents.

The title of this book at once
recalls the "Chinese National
Readers, with Illustrations,"
which has been published by the
Commercial Press and has had
a phenomenal sale. On examina-
tion wc find the two books are
very much alike. If imitation
be sincere flattery the Commer-
cial Press may be flattered.
One feature of this book which I
have seen in no other Reader is
that the Chinese characters have
the Romanised spelling written
underneath. This is probably
the first step towards teaching
Romanisation in the schools, and
this would do more to spread the
mandarin dialect over the whole
of China than any other con-
ceivable project. There are a few
errors — printer's perhaps — page
9 ^ is spelled ehing. Page 45
green glass is written where
•* grass " is intended. On page
45 divided is twice mis-spelled.
The 19th leaf is inserted a second
time after page 48. j^ j^

Moral Philosophy, ^ ^ ^^ ^i H. By
the Rev. W. M. Hayes, D.D., Ching-
chow-fu. Shantung.

Not a great deal has been
written thus far in Chinese by
missionaries on the subject of
ethics. Perhaps they have felt
that, as the Chinese are great
moralists, it w^ould be something
like carrying coals to Newcastle.

Yet certainly there is great
need of text-books on this sub-
ject in our schools and colleges.
The systematic treatise on moral
philosophy is a want felt by a
large number of school teachers.

Dr. Hayes has undertaken to
supply this want, and w^e are
indebted to him for a book wiiich
is clear and concise, and which

gives an admirable exposition
of the subject from the intuitional
point of view.

Thus far two volumes of the
work have been published. The
first deals with the nature and
origin of conscience, moral judg-
ments, the freedom of the will,
impulses, and the influence of
religion upon morals. This is
based largely upon the work of
Professor Alexander.

The second volume gives an
excellent summary of moral
duties — the duties towards self,
towards others, and towards
God. The third volume will be
devoted to the subject of positive
authority.

Where so much is good it
seems like carping to call atten-
tion to some defects, but we
must confess to being somewhat
disappointed with the first
volume.

The Chinese are intuitionalists
in morals, and it is not difficult
to make them see this point of
view. At the present day, how-
ever, China is being flooded with
literature from the West, giving
the naturalist theories of the
development of conscience, and
it would seem highly desirable
that any book on the subject of
moral philosophy should at the
outset give considerable space to
the discussion of the utilitarian,
hedonistic, and evolutionary
theories. It will not do to keep
silence in regard to them or to
dismiss them as absurd in a few
paragraphs. It should examine
• them carefully and show what
truth and w^hat error they con-
tain. Whatever may be the origin
of conscience, and believe as
strongly as we may in the cate-
gorical imperative, still there can
be no doubt that these naturalistic
theories have much to teach us
in regard to the development of
moral judgments.

574

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

We would like to see the
author insert a glossary of the
terms used in the first volume as
well as of those used in the
second. We must confess to
being somewhat mystified at first
as to what distinction he made
between g >& and ^ ^^ J^ )&•
We gather that the first is used
for conscience and the second for
moral judgment. It is well in
all abstract subjects like this to
define the terms very clearly,
and where two are sometimes
used as synonyms to differentiate
them distinctly.

We were surprised to run
across in one of the arguments
a somewhat shallow criticism of
Berkeley's idealistic philosophy.
It is similar to the famous one
used by Dr. Johnson. To say
that because you kick your foot
against some object in a dark
room, therefore you have proof
of the existence of matter is not
a very convincing argument.
After all you are only conscious
of the mental sensation of pain,
and you are still in the world of
ideas.

We close this brief review
with the earnest wish that the
author may find time in his
busy life to expand the first
volume of his work and give us
the more extended and complete
treatment of the subject which
we know him to be so capable of
giving us.

F. I.. H. P.

Hangchow, the "City of Heaven,"
with a brief historical sketch of
Soochow, "The Beautiful." By
Frederick D. Cloud, Vice -Consul
U.S.A. Presbyterian Mission Press,
Shanghai. Price |2.oo.

Mr. Cloud's book belongs to a
class which will be increasingly
called for since it is addressed
not to the general reading public
of the home lands or to the

special student in the East, bu
to the traveller or tourist, whether
resident near or far. And this
insures for the book a cordial
welcome, for it calls to attention
one of the regions in China which
is destined to become a favorite
" side trip " for travellers.

Aside from a brief chapter on
Soochow the book is concerned
with the city of Hangchow and
the immediate vicinity. It is a
very readable volume of no pages,
in which the balance is very well
preserved ; no topic receiving too
much space. The brief historical
sketch shows that Hangchow is
comparatively a modern city.
The account of the city, as it is at
present, is clear and interesting.
Some foreign residents of the
city, however, may question Mr.
Cloud's assertion that " by far the
greater number of people speak
Ningpoese, " as the Shaoshing
dialect is at least a very close
second, if not, as some think, in
the lead.

The chapter on the Tidal
Bore of the Chien-t'ang River
points out that visitors unable to
get to Hai-ning can get a fair
view of the bore near Hangchow.
Mr. Cloud makes the distance
from Hangchow to Hai-ning
somewhat greater than it is, but
his account is clear and has the
merit which some other descrip-
tions have not had of keeping
the height of the bore within
reasonable bounds. The greater
part of the book is taken up with
the stories and legends which
have gathered around places and
buildings located near the West
Lake. The task of sifting and
interpreting these legends is by
no means an easy one, and it is
inevitable that error should creep
in. Mr. Cloud has collected
stories of all places of important
interest and put them in very
readable form. He probably did

1906.]

Our Book Table.

575

not consider it within the scope
of the volume to trace the stories
always to their original form, and
so there will be need for further
work at some time by the careful
historian.

Yet for most readers the value
and usefulness of the volume is
not affected, and the richness of
this region in legendary history
will come as a surprise even to
foreigners long resident in Hang-
chow.

Considerable space is given to
the story of the patriot Ya Fei,
whose grave is one of the chief
points of interest. A "condensed
paraphrase " of the legend of the
White Snake makes a readable
tale. The chapter on Christian
Missions is quite full and accurate.
But no feature of the book will
call forth more favoraljle comment
than the illustrations. They are
numerous and well chosen, includ-
ing nearly all places of chief
interest. The letter-press reflects
credit on the publishers.

F. W. B.

The Story of My Life. By Helen
Keller. With her letters and a sup-
plementary account of her educa-
tion, including passages from the
reports and letters of her teacher,
Anne Mansfield Sullivan. Edited by
John Albert Macy. London : Hodder
and Stoughton. For sale at the Mis-
sionary Home, Shanghai. Price $3.25.

It is not often that a book
other than one directly concerned
with the Celestial Empire appears
on our book table, but to those
whose deepest desire is to reach
the hearts of them that live in
darkness, this story of the un-
folding of life to one seemingly
beyond hope cannot fail of absorb-
ing interest. To know of such a
miracle, and to learn the details,
told so brightly by the girl who
was brought out of bondage into
the liberty of knowledge, truth
and love, spurs us on in our

endeavours to reach those whose
spiritual night may be compared
with the physical condition of
the heroine of this tale. It is an
autobiography, consisting of a
series of pictures of her life, as
Miss Keller remembers them, and
most entertainly has she told us
of her struggles to overcome the
disabilities of her deafness and
blindness. Her gift of attracting
and holding the sympathy of the
reader, both with her personality
and literary work, is extraordi-
nary ; and the occasional quaint
expressions, quainter humour,
and frequent flashes of wit make
up a delightful narrative of what
might otherwise seem to be but a
revelation of unconquerable sad-
ness. But her courage is not
the least remarkable feature of
this young author, and her ex-
ample is an inspiration to all
who live and work.

But this book is not of value
only for the interest it awakens
and the helpful lessons one may
draw from it for every-day tasks.
There are many hints, in Miss
Sullivan's letters, for teachers of
the blind, or deaf; and much
encouragement for all who find
the paths of learning strewn with
thorns — no less for themselves as
guides than for their charges.
One feels that she is a fellow-
labourer, and is encouraged to go
on trying to lead some, if but a
single one, out of darkness, into
light.

H. B.

The report of the Thirteenth Confer-
ence of Foreign Mission Boards of
the U. S. and Canada, held at Nash-
ville, February 27th and 28th.

This report is only just to hand.
Ten subjects were brought before
the Conference ; not one of them
relating to matters of interest to
missions in general, except that
inquiring, "What number of

576

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

missionaries should we aira to
send out?" — thei answer being,
" One male missionary and one
unmarried female missionary to
every 50,000 of the non-Christian
population of the world." A
committee of five was appointed
to inquire into the subject more
fully, and meantime a resolution
was adopted that there ought to
be at least a thousand volunteers
ready to be sent out each year un-
til the fields are occupied in force.

A strong presentation was
made of the needs of Anglo-
American communities in foreign
ports, and a committee of five,
with Mr. Robt. Speer as chair-
man, was charged with the duty
of finding proper men. Interest-
ing statements were made as to
the phenomenal union mission
movement in Korea and about
church union in Canada.

The spiritual needs of Russia
were discussed with a view to
work in that empire when the
way opens. The frightful condi-
tions on the Congo were fully
presented and appropriate resolu-
tions adopted.

The ideal editing of missionary
periodicals was treated by Dr.
Robson, of Edinburgh, but no hint
was given of the capital difi&culty
met in America of getting any-
body to read the periodicals after
they have been ideally edited.
" The Layman, a Latent Factor
in the Evangelization of the
World," was the title of a paper
by a layman, and the discussion
showed that both in England
and in America the laymen are
constantly becoming more in-
terested in world-wide missions.
One of the most comprehensive
and suggestive papers was by Dr.
Herbert Lancaster (secretary) on
the Experience of the Church
Missionary Society, with its
1 ,400 missionaries, its income of
$2,000,000, and above all its

policy of always sending out
suitable candidates, assured that
the money will follow. In this
respect that Society is a light-
house for the world.

A committee was appointed
looking toward the observance of
a "missionary month" in the
church calendar. An appeal was
also issued for the adoption of a
series of twelve missionary les-
sons for Sunday Schools. In the
greetings from European mis-
sionary societies (given by Karl
Fries, Ph.D.) a vivid idea of the
opposition to German missions
is given by the following quota-
tion from a leading colonial jour-
nal : ' * Missions are as great a
hindrance to the colonial develop-
mentas malaria, black-water fever,
and grasshoppers, and like these
they seem to be ineradicable. We
must, however, not cease to look
for the serum that will kill
them." Another party warns
the missionaries against com-
mitting the same error as those
did who introduced Christianity
into Germany by " destroying
the highest ideas of our fore-
fathers and giving them entirely
new ideas, the value of which
we have not until this day been
able to discover ' ' ! There is
still abundant home mission
work to be done in America, in
Great Britain and in Germany.

A. H. S.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The Okayama Orphanage Record.
Famine Relief Number. 1906.

An excellently illustrated story
of useful work nobly done.

Memorandum on Printing Missionary
Books in the So-called South For-
mosa Dialect. By W. Campbell.
1906.

An interesting and handy book-
let for reference.

1906."

Our Book Table.

577

The Christian IMovement in Japan.
Fourth Annual Issue, 1906. Pub-
lished for the vStauding Committee
of Co-operating Christian Missions.
Methodist Publishing House, Tokio.
An invaluable annual. We

hope to notice it at length in

next month's issue.

We have received a copy of
Vol. Ill of that invaluable work
" Christian Missions and Social
Progress," by Rev. James S.
Dennis, D.D: (Fleming Revell
Company, $2.50 gold, nett). Full
notice reserved for next month.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in course
of preparation. Friends engaged in
translation or compilation of books
are invited to notify Rev. D.
MacGillivray, 44 Boone Road, Shang-
hai, of the work they are engaged
on, so thut this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : —

C.L. S. List:—

Booker T. Washington's " Up from
Slavery." By Mr. Kao Lun-ching.

Guizot's Civilization in Europe.
W. A. Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the Christian
Religion. Dodge.

Shansi Imperial University List: —

Twentieth Century Atlas of Popular
Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published by
Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia, Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, published
by Chambers.

Commercial Press : —

S. Newcomb's Elem. of Astronomy.

Phillip and Strong's Trigonometry.

National Readers for High Schools.

Methods for Teaching Elementary
Science.

International Geography.

Methods for teaching National
Readers.

Catechism of Synoptic Gospels.
By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the Life of
Christ." By Miss Sarah Peters.
Nearly ready for the Press.

Concordance of the New Testament.
Mandarin. Rev. C. H. Fenn.

Commentary on the Four Books.
By Dr. Henry Woods.

'Ballantine's Inductive Studies in
Matthew.

"An Indian Princess." By Mrs.
Bertha S Ohlinger.

Abridgment of Mateer's Arithmetic.
By Mrs. Mateer.

Catechism on St. John's Gospel.
By Mrs. DuBose.

Twenty normal lessons for S. S. use.
By J C. Owen.

The Organized Sunday School. By
J. C Owen.

Hungering and Thirsting. By
Mrs. MacGillivray (ready).

Charity's Birthday Text. By Mrs.
MacGillivray (ready).

A friend enquires for some transla-
tion of Sylvan us Stall's Books on
Self and Sex. Will some one work
at them ?

Rev. Geo. L. Gelwicks writes to say
that he is working on a Concordance
of the Old Testament in collaboration
with Rev. C. H. Fenn on the New
Testament.

NoTA Bene : Mr. MacGillivray's
Classified and Descriptive Catalogue
of Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out. he purposes bringing it
up to date for the 1907 Centenary
Conference, including all distinctively
Christian books by all Societies. Sug-
gestions for improvement and ma-
terials gratefully received from recent
authors and from Societies ; more
especially as the new material has
been lost in the Whangpoo. He has
also in mind to publish a China
Mission Year Book, commencing with
1907, to be issued at the beginning
of 1908 ; this to be the first of a reg-
ularly appearing series of Year Books.
Suggestions as to what should be
included in these Year Books are now
solicited.

578

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

Editorial Comment.

Two remarkable Imperial

Decrees have been promulgated

, , during the past

^"^^''^^^ month That of

2)ccrcc6 ^^^ 2oth September,

limiting the use of opium to
ten years, and the considera-
tion of measures for the prohi-
bition of the habit, will be
found in our Diary of Events
columns. It is a further
illustration of the fact that
China is a land of surprises
and sudden resolves. The
Decree of the ist September
with regard to Constitutional
Government reminds us that
the '^old order changeth and
giveth place to the new," and
that at a more rapid rate than
was anticipated ten years ago.
Tken it was considered by some
sage observers that China's
political system was well suited
to the moral condition of the
people, and that attempts to
introduce such reforms as a con-
stitutional government called
for higher ideals than those
possessed by Chinese. There
was not then, however, suffi-
cient faith in the virility of the
new ideas which had been
planted in the heads and hearts
of officials and people, through
the study of the new literature
which was making its influ-
ence felt in China. Many of
the ideas, as understood by the
people, were crude and their
full trend insufficiently under-
stood. But they helped to keep
the eye directed and the soul
striving after better things.

We have heard of one native
municipality which set up
lamp-posts, but the lamps were
never lighted, as the oil was
not forthcoming. The idea,
however, was a good one, and
no doubt would lead to increase
of light in the future, under
more happy conditions.

The dissemination of new

ideas and the gradual working

^ , * of the new leaven
Dromse ot ^ ^^^ ^^^_

'^''"^^"""^"•cated and business

classes and a lesser proportion
of the official classes, have
prepared the way for the Com-
missioners' report and the con-
sequent Imperial Decree of the
ist September. Some of the
sentences in the Decree are very
suggestive. The first, for ex-
ample, is illuminating and
pathetic : * ' In obedience to
the instructions of her Imperial
Majesty the Empress Dowager,
the Emperor issues the folio w-
iuQ: decree." Some of the
more significant sentences are:

"At the present day we hold rela-
tions with the various nations of the
earth and learn that there is amongst
them a mutual interdependence on and
with each other, and this leads us to
consider our own position , which seems
pressing and fraught with danger un-
less we seek for wise and experienced
men to assist us in the government
of the Empire ... In all their reports
to US' they (the High Commissioners)
are unanimous in the declaration that
the main cause of the backward con-
dition of this Empire is due to the
lack of confidence between highest
and lowest, between the Throne and
Ministers and the masses. . . Foreign
countries really become wealthy and

1 906.]

Editorial Comment.

579

powerful by grantincr a constitution to
the masses and allowing universal
suffrage to all. . . . But at this time
of the day no method of procedure
has as yet been drawn up, whilst the
understanding of the masses is very
limited. Any impetuosity shown in
introducing this reform will at the
end be so much labour lost ... In
a few years' time .... the time
will come for appointing a day for
the inauguration of a constitutional
government. The whole Empire will
then be notified of the fact. We
would therefore earnestly exhort our
Viceroys and Governors of provinces
to issue proclamations to their people,
to show an enthusiastic desire for
education, to be loyal and patriotic,
to sacrifice for the good of all, and to
refrain from destroying a grand struc-
ture through petty strife and private
quarrels."

* * *

One immediate result of
this proclamation was a deter-

fmmeMate ""'TlZ °" "j^
TReeults. P^rt of the people
to make the most
of this promise. Meetings
were held in important centres,
the prior organization of which
and the proceedings themselves
showing how the race spirit
of the Chinese is developing.
The spirit of local patriotism
is being superseded by some-
thing as intense and more
extensive, which is promoted
by the increasing opportunities
of communication, which are
tending very practically to the
unification of the nation. As
illustrating the nature of these
meetings we will refer to four,
held at different centres. In
Canton the Chamber of Com-
merce and other public bodies
arranged parades and public
meetings, at which orations
were delivered and patriotic
songs sung.^ These were all
taken part in by public so-
cieties and by the students.

In Amoy the Chamber of
Commerce arranged a meeting
to which all the schools and
business people of the port
were invited. At this meeting
the Constitution Edict was read
and expounded and the audi-
ence addressed on the best
means for preparing the people
to take part in the constitu-
tional scheme. In Kashing
the celebration took the form
of public thanksgiving to the
Emperor for his promise of a
constitutional government, as
soon as the people were ready
for it. The celebration was held
in the hall of a Confucian
temple, and fifteen to twenty
schools participated therein.
In Shanghai several demon-
strations were held, the most
notable being a meeting con-
vened by the native press.
Influential men spoke on the
necessity of preparing for con-
stitutional government, laying
special stress on the need for
education — not forgetting girls*
schools — in order that future
generations may have the
benefit of home training from
earliest years. It is evident
from the speeches at the last
mentioned meeting that the
organizers were determined to
prevent the government from
drawing back from the promise
given. One of the speakers,
lieferred to political reform as
resting no longer with the
government but with the peo-
ple, appealing to the official,
educational, and commercial
classes to shoulder their share
of responsibility and help the
Throne to give reality to the
present promise.

580

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

One interesting feature of the
celebrations was a special meet-

CbeCbtfettans ^g of the Chi-
^4... ^ nese Christians,

^"^^''^^^"^^•heldinthehis-
toric London Mission church in
Shanghai. On the cover of the
programme a dragon sprawled
as gracefully as was possible in
its upright position between Ji
mMmfk"^ on the right and
StJR.jt^,#ontheleft. The
items of the programme includ-
ed patriotic Christian hymns,
prayer for national prosperity
and a thanksgiving prayer for
the happiness of the people,
reading of patriotic psalms, a
quartette (pupils of the Anglo-
Chinese College) in English,
' ' My Country His of Thee," and
the following three addresses :
"The future of constitutional
government and China's pros-
perity," ''The responsibility
of Christians to lead the peo-
ple", and ''Methods of pre-
paring for the constitutional
government. * ' We understand
that the meeting was crowded ;
many being unable to obtain
entrance. One item, H Pf ^
^ ("three cheers"), was not
carried out. We understand
the idea was, the first cheer
(MM) to b^ for the Con-
stitution, the second for the
Emperor, and the third for the

Jesus Church in China.

* * *

We adverted last month to

the important questions which

_., , , are rising before

the missionaries,

anO«ew through the

CouWtfons. ^^^„gg- ^,,i^,,

are taking place in China
and promised an article going

more particularly into the mis-
sionaries' personal relations to
the Chinese at this time. This
article has, unfortunately, been
delayed in its preparation, but
with hearts and minds filled
by the thought of what is
involved in the changes and
hopes mentioned in the pre-
ceding paragraphs it is well
to think of the efiect these
changes will have on our native
brethren and how we can be
most helpful. The new con-
ditions rising about us are be-
wildering to the old and the
new alike. We see a China
which was never seen before.
We find aspirations, hopes,
purposes in the minds of the
people, and especially the
young, which are a revelation
to us. And yet we find that
great numbers, in whose hearts
we have helped to stir these
desires, turn away from us to
other sources of help and in-
struction. For a year or two
the church, its helpers of every
grade, and even its illiterate
members, have been at a pre-
mium with many of these
seekers for Western learning ;
any one who had been associa-
ted with foreigners could give
some help in geography or
history, or at least in the for-
eign point of view. But this
stage has passed in many parts
of the country, — is passing in
all ; and the attitude of the
seekers for the new learning
toward the church is crystal-
lizing. What this attitude
will prove really to be it is
early to predict. By the time
of the Conference next year
we shall be better able to judge.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

581

There appears every reason

to suppose that in many re-

^ ^ ^ spects we are to

contest mote ^^^ .^ ^^^-^^^ ^

Enatossinfl. ^^^^^^^^^^ „f tl^^

course of events in Japan. It
is well for us to be reminded
of the action taken by Japanese
Christians some years ago re-
garding foreign missionaries :
*' We do not deem it necessary
that many more missionaries
shall be sent us fiom America
to preach the Gospel to the
masses of the people. The
ordinary work of preaching
can be done quite as well by
educated men of our own race.
But if our friends across the
ocean can send us men capable
of becoming leaders, able to
teach us how to grapple with
rival systems of philosophy
and religion and all the learn-
ed questions which confront
us, then the more they send
the better." That is not at
present the case in China,
where vast portions of the
field are destitute and where
the spirit of evangelization —
strong indeed in many individ-
uals— has not as yet moved
in the church at large. But
soon we shall see the church
in China rousing itself to
this great work of ' ' ordinary
preaching " to the masses.
Meanwhile the word is pass-
ing from lip to lip among
the missionary army, — "the
day of apologetics has come. ' '
We must have men to grapple
with rival systems of philoso-
phy and religion. The con-
test is growing more intense
and more engrossing every
day.

An article by Rev. F.
Rawlinson in T/ie New East
(the new and ex-

Our Unlace as
^eacbcrs.

cellent quarterly
issued by the
American Baptists in China)
upon the Function of the
Modern Missionary, is admir-
ably summed up in its clos-
ing words, which we quote :
" We are most economical
in the use of our resources
when we do that for which
we are best equipped, which
those around us cannot do
and which will make the
work self-multiplying and self-
supporting. Ten or fifteen
years of this will produce
men who will show us how to
preach ; but it will be a long
time before they can occupy
our places as teachers. When
they can, our work as mission-
aries is done!" In the same
magazine is an article by
Pastor Nyi, of the Huchow
Baptist Church, urging self-
support and self-propagation
on the part of the Chinese
church. Nothing appears in
his paper of the tone which is
too often heard among those
who urge independence of
foreigners on the part of
Chinese Christians, — that tone
of distrust and self-sufficiency
which prevents us from hailing
their propaganda wnth delight,
^^his desire on the part of the
Christians to move toward
independency, then, reaches
in all directions among those
willing to be led by foreigners,
as well as among those who
are alienated from us. This
fact shows how rapidly the
Chinese church is finding it-

582

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

Dccreaae an&
fncrease.

self, and how at one it is in
spirit and purpose.

4e ♦ ♦

If any of us feel hurt at the
unexpected spirit of independ-
ence in men
whom we were
not conscious of
having injured, and if we
doubt their motives, we have at
least Paul's method of comfort
open : ' ' Every way, whether in
pretence, or in truth, Christ is
preached ; and I therein do re-
joice, yea, and will rejoice.'*
But after all, our prayers for
the Chinese, and our frequent
exhortations, have ever had
self-dependence, self-govern-
ment, self-propagation, and
self-support in view. Why,
then, are we alarmed when
the very things for which we
have prayed are coming to
pass ? True they come in an
unexpected form and with
some blows to our pride and
amour propre ; they come in
ways which look less Christ-
like than we had hoped for ;
in short, instead of a healthy,
harmonious, simple growth
from dependence to independ-
ence, the church shows symp-
toms of being like all other
churches in past history, a
mixture of wheat and tares,
uneven in its virtues and
graces, complex in its prob-
lems and growth, and altoge-
ther beyond the power of man
to direct or to fathom. It is
our blessed service to pray for
this church, to bear it up con-
stantly before the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, to labor
for it, to endure in its behalf
any and every suffering of

mind and body, and withal to
be misunderstood, if need be ;
it is ours to pour out our
whole life, our best effort, in
hope of helping to present
this church before Christ spot-
less at His appearing. But
we must decrease and this
church, may it increase !
* * *

With regard to the last sent-
ence we quoted from the Edict,
«.^ s. ** , referring to

E6ucation. education, we
undersand that H. E. Yuan
Shih-k'ai has memorialized the
Throne requesting a mandate
enforcing compiilsory educa-
tion in China so as to prepare
the people during the next ten
or twelve years for the actual
introduction of parliamentary
government. His Excellency
promises to exert himself to
initiate compulsory education
in Chihli province, with a view
to setting an example to other
provinces. As the necessity
for female schools and the
importance of female education
has been referred to in the
addresses at the celebrations,
the frontispiece in this issue of
the Recorder will have a
special interest to our readers.
It depicts a unique conference
for which each church in the
Weihsien Presbytery elected
two delegates, with the result
that there were three hun-
dred regularly accredited repre-
sentatives coming from over
two hundred villages scattered
through thirteen counties. Alto-
gether between four and five
hundred women attended the
meetings. Some of them walk-

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

583

ed on their crippled little feet
130 //, carrying their bedding
with them ; and several walk-
ed 140 /z, among them, an old
woman of seventy-eight years.
Almost more remarkable than
the willingness of the women
to make sacrifices was the
eagerness of the men to help
in sparing the women by pro-
viding the necessary money
and themselves managing the
household affairs. For parti-
culars as to the joyful meetings,
the unprecedented social op-
portunities, and the timeliness
and practicalness of the themes
discussed, we would refer our
readers to the September num-
ber of Womau^s Work t7i the
Far East,

* * *

The hearts of our readers
must have been painfully stirred

In peril bv) ^^ ^^^^ ri^\^s of
the terrible loss of
life through the
dreadful typhoon at Hongkong
on the 1 8th September. Ac-
cording to the latest accounts
the loss of life exceeded four
thousand. River steamers had
been sunk, ocean liners had
gone ashore, and the loss
among the native craft was
beyond computation. One loss
that will come specially home
to us is the death of Bishop

Hoare, who was drowned while
on a houseboat trip to some
villages near Hongkong. Com-
ing out to China in 1876 under
the Church Missionary Society,
he did a splendid work in
Ningpo, Trinity College there
being a monument to the thor-
oughness of his work. In 1898
he was consecrated Bishop of
Victoria, and his career has
been followed with keen in-
terest by his friends in various
parts of China. To the bereav-
ed family and to his co-workers
we extend our hearty sympathy.

We also extend our deepest
sympathy to the family of
Dr. Whiting, drowned at Pei-
tai-ho (see page 556 ) ; to the
family of Mr. Sparks, of the
C. I. M. School, drowned in
Chefoo harbor ; and to Dr. and
Mrs. A. H. Smith, whose only
son was drowned at Lake
Geneva on the 8th August
while endeavoring to rescue a
lady.

We thankfully acknowledge
God^s goodness in caring for
all on board the S. S. Man-
churia that went ashore near
Honolulu. Among the return-
ing missionaries were Dr. and
Mrs. G. F. Fitch, who will be
welcomed by many in important
lines of mission work all over
China.

Missionary News.

We regret that pressure of
matter prevents us this month
from printing Revival news from
Shantung, reports of Federation
Conferences, and an account of
the new church building at Ru-
ling.

The appeal of the Chinese

Christian Intelligencer for the
sufferers from the floods in Hu-
nan was very generously respond-
ed to by the native Christians,
who contributed about $250.00.
Sixty dollars of this came from
Dr. Hunter Corbett's church in
Shantung.

584

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

Free Distribution.

Many of our readers already
know of the " L. and K."
distribution of tracts, especially
through having received a gift
of J. H. McConkey's work on
the Holy Spirit. A friend in
China has given a free-will offer-
ing to start a similar work in
connexion with the C. L. S.
Two books will be used as a
beginning, viz., Murray's Spirit
of Christ (for Christians) and
Bushnell's Character of Jesus
(for non-Christians), If you wish
to receive a copy of either of
these books (the first in Wen-
li, or Mandarin; the second in
Wen-li only) for wise and
specific giving on the lines of
the " L. and K." work, please
send your address, name and
style of book and name of Chinese
friend to whom you wish to give
it, to Mrs. Donald MacGillivray,
54 Range Road, Shanghai, and
you will receive the book by
post free.

S. B. M. in Shantung.

We are glad to learn that the
Bush Theological Seminary of
the American Southern Baptist
Mission will open its fall term
on October 2nd at Hwang-hien
instead of at Teng - chow -fu,
where the classes have hitherto
been temporarily held.

Hon. J. C. Bush, of Mobile, Ala.,
last year contributed $10,000 U.
S. Gold, for the purpose of erect-
ing the Seminary building and
two residences for the teachers,
in memory of his honored
parents. These buildings have
been erected, under Dr. Pruitt's
superintendence, in the eastern
suburb of Hwang-hien, and,
though the residences are not yet
completed, the term will begin
as appointed. Dr. Pruitt and

family and Dr. J. B. Hartwell
(with his daughter, Miss A. B.
Hartwell) have removed hither,
and will be glad to have their
correspondents note their change
of address. It will hereafter be
Hwang-hien via Chef 00, instead
of Teng-chow-fu via Chefoo.

Sidelights from Manchuria.

BY REV. JAMES WEBSTER.

(Concluded from p. 526 Sept. No.)

In the city of Kaiyuan Dr.
Muir carried on the work
throughout the war without a
break, and there has been no
going back. There were 18,000
war refugees crowded into the
city for many months, and 4,000
of the most destitute were cared
for by Dr. Muir, acting for the
Red Cross and Refugee Aid
Society. The women were visit-
ed regularly by the lady mis-
sionaries, especially by Miss
Howie, and seeds were sown
in many hearts which will
doubtless bear fruit in days to
come. Miss Howie has been
compelled to return home on
account of her health, and others
will reap where she has sown.

The medical mission in Kai-
yuan, under Dr. Muir, has taken
quite a new start, and owing
to the crowds of refugees in the
city the outdoor department has
had heavy demands made upon
it. Excellent relations exist be-
tween the medical mission and the
officials and influential citizens
of Kaiyuan. The Hailungcheng
district has been without a visit
of a missionary for over two
j^ears. Since peace was estab-
lished both Mr. Inglis and Mr.
Stobie have travelled over it,
visiting all the stations in turn.
The}^ have both been impressed
with the remarkable way in
which the native church has

1906.]

Missionary News.

585

niaintaiued its spiritual life, al-
though exiled from foreign mis-
sionaries for such a prolonged
period. Some places were found
cold, but on the whole the work
is in a very hopeful condition.
Quite recently seven men were
baptised on the spot where blind
Chang was martyred six years
ago, and the saying has again
been fullfilled, 'The blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the
church.'

FROM THE NORTH.

From Kirin unfortunately we
had no report. Dr. Greig has
been at his post all through, and
all branches of the work in that
great city have been carried on
as usual. So in Kuanchentzu,
where Dr. Gordon and Mr. Weir
have carried on medical and
evangelistic work without inter-
ference by the Russians.

At Kuyushu the work under
Mr. Miskelly has gone on unin-
terruptedly ; and there has been
no loss by the war. On the
other hand, the level of the
Christian life of the people has
been steadily going up. The
members have built a school with
accommodation for forty board-
ers. As the result of a weekly
prayer-meeting, where missionary
duty w^as often insisted on, two
native Christians of standing
offered to go out and open work
on new^ and distant ground.
One chose to proceed to Petune,
on the borders of Mongolia,
where as token of the success
of his w^ork, it may be mentioned
that when the foreign missionary
recently visited Petune, a Mongol
affirmed to him that he had
renounced idolatry, and as evid-
ence handed over his idol and
books of ritual. Another Chris-
tian— a colonel in the regular
Chinese army — resigned his
commission, and was sent to

raise the banner of Christ in
Ninguta, far among the eastern
hills. Within two years enough
people were interested to afford
the missionary on his arrival an
audience of 150 men and women.

In Ashiho Dr. and Mrs.
McKillop Young have remained
throughout the war, cut off from
all communications for many
months. They have borne the
many hardships of their long
exile very bravely and uncom-
plainingly. The native church
has been making substantial
progress. It has been produc-
ing more men who can act as
leaders and preachers. The
number of enrolled converts has
risen by thirty per cent. Con-
tributions for all purposes have
increased remarkably by no less
indeed than 200 per cent.
Rev. W. Miskelly, who has been
in charge during the Rev. D. T.
Robertson's absence, reports an
earnest spirit as manifest among
those whom we call enquirers.

"So is the Kingdom of God,
as if a man should cast seed into
the ground and should sleep and
rise night and day, and the seed
should spring and grow up, he
knoweth not how\"

THE MEETING OF PRESBYTERY.

There was a large gathering
of native elders from all parts
of the country : their presence,
faithful attendance at each ses-
sion, and general earnest demean-
our manifesting their deep inter-
est in the welfare of Christ's
ohurch in the land. Rev. Liu
Chuen-yao, the respected pastor
of Moukden East Congregation,
w^as unanimously elected mod-
erator. Mr. Liu has been in the
West and has seen how the
great moderators of the great
assemblies in Scotland bear
themselves, and he filled the
moderatorial chair with becoming

586

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

grace and dignity. There was
naturally a large amount of
business to be got through,
thanks to 'the war, and much
of it of a purely routine nature,
necessary if things are to be
done decently and in order, but
stale, fiat and unprofitable.

A FRUITFUL YEAR.

But there were times when the
pulse quickened and men's hearts
were stirred within them. As
for example when it was an-
nounced that in 1905 there had
been 1,327 people baptized, and
that at the beginning of the year
there were 3,551 candidates for
baptism on the lists. And we
heard that scattered throughout
the two provinces of Manchuria
(Fengtien and Kirin), includ-
ing churches, chapels, and rooms
for prayer, there are no fewer
than 270 places where prayer is
wont to be made and the word
spoken that gives life. I did
not ask, but this number I ima-
gine does not include churches
like those of Nymphas, the
meetings of twos and threes in
scattered villages for petition and
mutual edification. We know
there are many such lights set
in dark places.

KDUCATIONAL.

A full sederunt was devoted
to the discussion of the church's
relation to the new government
educational scheme. It was
very generally agreed that there
were many points of identity
between the church's educational
ideal and that of the government,
and rapprochement was encour-
aged. Sessions were instructed
to found schools in each district
and to adopt the entire govern-
ment scheme, plus Scripture
teaching. With regard to the

tentative text-books prepared for
use in the government schools,
while there was no great objec-
tion to their being used when not
positively inimical to Christian-
ity, it was thought that on the
whole the text-books prepared by
Mr. Wang Hang-tong, Shanghai,
were more thorough and satis-
factory.

CHURCH WORK.

The meeting when church life
and work were discussed, was a
memorable one. We heard of
times of refreshing in other
places, and there was an earnest
longing on the part of both
natives and foreigners for a
similar revival in our midst. A
strong life and work committee
was appointed, consisting of five
foreigners and as many native
pastors and elders, who are to
consider the things that make
for the spiritual quickening and
uplifting of the whole church,
to take immediate action in the
event of evangelistic opportuni-
ties suddenly arising, to study
the trend of Chinese thought,
and devise means of meeting
it sympathetically, with a view,
if possible, to bring it into living
touch with Christianity, and
generally to organise the church
for further self-improvement and
self-support.

ORDINATIONS.

But the great Presbytery day,
to which we all looked forward,
and which was an inspiration to
us all, was the day devoted to
the solemn setting apart of
seventeen men, who having
passed through the full course
in the Theological Hall, and
having a record unblamable
among their brethren, were
duly licensed as probationers of
the church. The men were

1906.]

Missionary News.

587

suitably addressed by the mo-
derator and the Rev. James
Carson, one of our seniors, and
were welcomed by the Presbytery
upstanding. It was obviously
a great occasion, calling forth
praise to Almighty God for this
truly rich gift to His church
in Manchuria. And it also set
the minds of the Presbytery
athinking. The next step for
these men will be the pastorate.

SELF-SUPPORT.

The Chinese must more and
more come to the front, both in
work and management, and the
foreigner take a back seat. ' Tis
as it should be. And very ob-
viously it raised the question,
What are we to do with these
men in the meantime ? How are
we to employ them ? If they
are called to pastorates over self-
supporting churches, well and
good. But it is not likely that all
the seventeen will get called
right away. The people have
to be educated up to the idea
of the necessity for a self-sup-
ported native pastorate, and that
means time. This important
question was debated in confer-
ence by the foreigners and in
meetings of the natives them-
selves. It ended in a manner
as unlooked for as it was
gratifying. After earnest dis-
cussion in a full house the
Presbytery unanimously resolved
itself into a Missionary Society,
and a Mission Committee was
duly appointed, with power to
raise funds from the native
church, to call for volunteers,
and to send forth missionaries
to distant fields hitherto un-
evangelized. This fine piece of
work received its finishing touch,
when two of the ablest and most
earnest of the probationers vol-
untarily offered themselves as

the first missionaries of the
Manchurian church. The Mis-
sion Committee held its first
meeting immediately after, in
order to draft a constitution,
and one of the Chinese members
moved that the mission field of
the church should be " Mayi-
churia, Mongolia^ Corea and the
borders thereof !'' And thus it
stands.

PROBLEMS OF GROWTH.

We have hitherto been THE
Presbytery, one and indivisible,
but the distances are so
enormous, and the work is
extending so rapidly, that a
process of devolution is inevitable,
and sessions are required within
the coming months to show
cause why the church in
Manchuria should not be divided
into three Presbyteries, viz.,
lyiaosi (West of the Liao), Liao-
tung (East of the Liao) and
Kirin ; the three Presbyteries
thus formed, reuniting as the
Synod of the Presbyterian Church
in Manchuria. We shall no
doubt be led, rather forced,
indeed, by circumstances to do
something of this kind, but this
will not prevent us becoming
part of the future great body of
Christians, which shall be known
neither as Presbyterian, Congre-
gational, Episcopal or Methodist,
but whose designation shall be
* The Church of Christ in China.'
And may God speed the day !

STATISTICS.

I have paid a visit to the
Schedule Department and append
the statistics submitted to Pres-
bytery, with the proviso that
as certain of the entries are not
fully guaranteed, they are to be
taken with a grain of salt. Most
statistics ought to be taken in
like fashion.

588

The Chinese Recorder.

[October,

statistics of the manchurian
(united) mission.

to December 31st, 1905.

Foreign Missionaries (Pastors) - 19

,, ,, (Doctors)- 9

,, ,, (Lady Doctors) - 7

„ ( ,, Teachers)- 8

Native Pastors 2

Elders (acting) 40

Deacons --------- 268

Chapels 119

Churches 39

Prayer Rooms- ------ 112

Roll (1904) 12,730

Baptized (1905) Men - - - - 673
r ,, ) Women - - - 345
( ,, ) Children - - - 309

Total 1,327

Received (1905) by Certificate - 419
,, (,,),, Restoration. 48,

Returned --- 148

Deaths 314

Cut off- 129

Lost 360

Transferred ------- 1,46

Total subtracted ------ 949

Total Members (1905) Men - -11,584
,, „ ( „ ) Women - 1,269

,, ,, ( M ) Children- 870,

Total -. - - -J.3,723

Candidates - - - - - - -- - 3,551

Schools - 69

Boys 653

Girls ----- 358

Contributions (3i,st; December, 1901).

Evangelistic- $2,313

General Expenses 23,721

Schools i>249

Hospitals -.---.- iSo.
British and Foreign Bi,bLe So,-

ciety 316

Buildings ------ -11,542

Total.— Dollars Mexican -39,511-

Pei-tai-ho. Missionary
Jottings. 1906.

We discovered this summer that
Pei-tai-ho is one of the nearer retreats
for the rest seekers of Shanghai.
Through the enterprise of the Chinese
Engineering and Mining Co., passen-
gers were landed in Chin-wang-tao
forty-eight hours after leaving Shang-
hai, and reached their cottages at
Pei-tai-ho four hours later.

The Chinese summer conference,
which was so conspicuously profitable
in 1905, was omitted this summer,
much to the regret of both mission-
aries and Chinese in Chihli province
and in Manchuria.

Dr. Howard A. Johnston, of New
York, delivered a series of twelve ad-
dresses on the general theme— Step-
ping Stones to Power — which were a
source of refreshment to the workers
of many societies.

At the annual meeting of the North
China Tract Society special mention
was made of the need of a secretary
to devote his entire time to the in-
terests of the Society, and plans were
made to secure the salary for his sup-
port.

The committee engaged in prepar-
ing a translation of the New Testa-
ment in high Wen-li finished their
revision and are now ready to present
their completed work to the mission-
ary public. All the members of the
committee present this summer : Rev.
Drs. Sheffield and Wherry, of North
China, and Rev. Messrs. Lloyd, of
Foochow and Pearce, of Hongkong,
contributed effectively to the preach-
ing and prayer meeting services of
the community.

A meeting was also held for the
discussion of the tentative mandarin
version of the New Testament now
approaching completion, copies of the
Gospels of which were in the hands
of mo3t who were present. Unfortu-
Uiately some time was exhausted in
discussing related matters and too
little remained for such a considera-
tion of this most important work as
i,ts importance demanded. The faith-
fulness of this version to the original
was commended and some felicitous
translations were noted ; at the same
time certain expressions which, while
accurately expressing the sense, were
thpught to fall below the dignity of
both the Greek original and of the
Peking version, were pointed out and
deplored.

The chiei interest of the month of
August centered in the meeting of
the North China Federation Council,
representing more than four hundred
missionaries. After some profitable
discussion, in which conservatives and
progressives expressed their views
fully, a strong representative com-
mittee was appointed, which on the
following day presented a scheme
for the constitution of a Divisional
Council for North China, which was
adopted with practical unanimity. Its
chief features were these : One dele-
gate, foreign, and one Chinese from
each province in the division, irres-
pective of the number of converts in
the provinces; then, in addition, one
foreign and one Chinese delegate for
every two thousand converts in the

1906.1

Diary of Events in the Far East.

589

province. The practical outcome of
such a plan would be one foreign
and one Chinese delegate for Kansu
province and the same for Shensi and
sixteen for Shantung, with other pro-
vinces ranging between.

The formation of the provincial
Federation Councils was left entirely
to the missionaries of each province
to determine.

It was voted to hold the first meet-
ing of the North China Divisional
Council in Pei-tai-ho in the summer
of 1908.

These, together with a successful
meeting of the auti-foot-binding socie-

ty, which was able to report progress ;
a meeting of the North China Edu-
cational Union, at which it wasdeclared
that the Throne had promised to
present Imperial diplomas to the
graduates of the Union Medical School
in Peking; the annual meeting of
the North China Presbyterian Mis-
sion, and of many committees from
other bodies, subtracted from the
restfulness, but contributed to the
interest of the summer months at
this surprisingly healthful and in-
spiring spot where hills and seas
conspire to rejuvenate the wearied
worker. J. W. L.

Diary of Events in the Far East.

May^ igo6,

a6th. — At Nanking the Central
Synod of China of the U. S. A.
Presbyterian Church, North, and the
Kiangcheh Presbytery of the U. S. A.
Presbyterian Church, South, united to
form the Wu Sang Synod. (See Mis.-
sionary News September).

July, J 906.

5th. — Sudden storm whichi capsiiaed
houseboat in which R^y. T). M^cGilli-
vray and Mr. Robert Law were
returning from Mohkanshan. Mr.
Law was drowned but Mr. M^cGillir.
vray saved.

I3tli. — Return of the Travelling
Commissioners from abroad.

Dr. R. J. J. MacDonald, Weslej-an
Mission, Wuchow,, murdered by
pirates on the West River.

14th. — World's Chinese Students'
Federation, recently established, starts
an Anglo-Chinese paper.

i6th. — Shanghai -Soochow-Wusieh
railway opened.

24th.— Disbanding at Changsha of
committee for relief of sufferers from
the Hunan floods, which began in

April ;. the water being at its highest
5th May, subsiding only many weeks
later.

September, 1906.

ist. — Decision of the Throne to
grant Constitutional Government to
China in the near future.

i8th.— Typhoon at Hongkong, with
enormous loss of life and damage to
property. Bishop Hoare drowned.

20th.— Imperial Decree against
opium.

Since the abolition against opium the poison
has spread through the country until it is
almost over all China. Those who become
addicted to the habit are known to have
wasted their time, neglected their trades,
ruined their constitution and even squander
tjieir property, because of it. For the several
tens of years since this condition of things
China has become poorer and poorer every
day, and it makes us deeply indignant to speak
of this matter. As the Throne is now deter-
mined on the cause and on reform, it becomes
jncumbent upon us to exhort our people to
stop the pernicious habit, pluck out this
cancer which is eating deep into our bodies
and strive for an era of physical Strength and
harmony. We, therefore, hereby decree that a
limit often years be given from date to entirely
get rid of the bane of opium smoking, and we
hereby further command the Council of State
Affairs (ChSngwuch'u) to consider measures
about the future strict prohibition of the habit
and the planting of the poppy plant through-
out the Empire, and report the same to us
for approval.

590

The Chinese Recorder.

[Octobe , 1906.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

AT Kuling, 9th July, to Mr. and Mrs.
T. D. Begg, B. F. B. S., a son.
(Norman Darroch).

AT Mien-juh, Szechuan, 22nd July,
to Rev. Dr. and Mrs. W. Squibbs,
C. M. S., a son (Walter Edward
Wray).

At Wuchang, 13th August, to Dr. and
Mrs. C. B. SoMERVinK, L. M. S.,
a son.

At Taichow, 17th August, to Dr. and
Mrs. S. M. Babington, C. M. S.,
twin daughters.

At Kuang-ning, Manchuria, 27th Au-
gust, to Rev. and Mrs. W. Hunte;r>
I. P. M., a daughter.

At Soochow, 28th August, to Rev.
and Mrs. C. G. McDaniel, S. B. C,
a son (Charles Yates).

AT Mohkanshan, 28th August, to R^ev.
and Mrs. F. W. Bible, A. P. M., a
daughter (Alice Frances),

At Swatow, 14th September, to Rev.
and Mrs. A. S. Adams, A. B. M. U.,
Hakka Mission, a son (Ronald
Weston).

MARRIAGES.

AT Kuling, 29th August, Dr. W. A.
TatcheIvL, W. M. S., and Miss
Marjorie Markwick.

AT Kobe, 6th September, Mr. Per-
civai. J. Laird, C. M. S., Hunan,
and Dr. Emma A. Perrine.

At Shanghai, 7th September, Rev. J.
W. Bradi^ey, M.D., and Miss A.
JUNKIN, both of A. P. M., South.

At Chefoo, loth September, Dr. Ed-
ward F. W11.1.S, h. M. S., and
Mrs. Shipway, B. M, S.

At Shanghai, i8th September, by
Rev. W, S. Faris, of Ichowfu, ReV.
Albert Herman Butzbach, Evan-
gel. Asso. of America, and Miss
LoRA Catherine Minch, of Hoop-
pole, Indiana ; also Rev. Ernest
Kelhofer (Evangel. Asso. of
America, and Miss Mary Ellkn
Braun, of Crediton, Ontario.

DEATHS.

At Chien-chow, Shensi, i8th August,
Mrs. C. J. Jensen, C. I. M.,
from puerperal fever.

At Peitaiho, 25th August, Dr. J. L.
Whiting, A. P. M., Peking. Ac-
cidental drowning.

At Chefoo, 8th September, H. W.
Sparks, C. 1. M. Accidental drown-
ing.

AT Hongkong, i8th September, Rt.
Rev. J. C. HOARE, D.D., Bishop of
Victoria. Accidental drowning.

ARRIVALS.

At Shanghai : —

27th August, Miss Elizabeth
Beatty, Iv.R.C.P S.E.L.M., for Irish
Presbyterian Mission.

i9th August, Rev. and Mrs. John
GowDY, Rev. E. C» Jones (all M. E.
M. (ret.)

ist September, Rev. and Mrs. J. M.
Blain, a. p. M., South (ret.); Mr.
and Mrs. E. Iv. Ford (M. E. M.);
Miss M. C. Hartford, M. E. M.
(ret. ) ; Mrs. J. R. Watson, E. B. M.
(tet.); Rev. I. Daehlen (ret.), Miss
Mary Anderson (ret.). Rev. and
Mrs. T. L. EkelanD, all of American
Ltith. Mission.

lith Septenlber, Miss ly. C. Minch,
Miss M. E. Braun, Dr. F. C. Krum-
1.ING.

ioth September, Dr. and Mrs. G. F.
Fitch (ret.). Miss E. S. Lanman,
Mrs. W. S. Faris (ret.). Rev. T.
J. Preston (ret.), Rev. and Mrs.
W. S. ISETT, all of A. P. M. ; Miss
Martin, M. E. M. (ret); Miss
Crummer, a. p. E. C. M. (ret.);
Bishop and Mrs. Spelmeyer, M. E.
M.

DEPARTURES.

From Shanghai :-^

31st August, Miss KtRBY, C. E. Z.
M., for England.

1st September, Miss L. McHoSE, M.
E. M., for U. S. A.

4th September, Mr. Thomas Sim-
MONDS, C. M. S. , for England.

I2th September, Rev. and Mrs. R.
E. IMaclean and faniily, M. E. M.,
for U. S. A.

16th September, Miss I. A. Robson,
C. I. M., for North America ; Miss
G. Wykoff, a B. C . F. M., for U. S.
A.

CHP:Nr-CHO\V-FU (hUNAN; men's HOSPITAI..

CHEN-CHOW- KU WOMEN'S HOSPITAI..

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3.50 (Gold $1.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1906. NO. 11.

Three Weeks with Opium Smokers in a
Chinese Village.

BY REV. WM. C. WHITE, C.M.S., LONGUONG.

ON March 2nd, 1906, began at the village of A-iong, in
the Ling-kong district (Foochow), a most unique work
— the curing of all the opium-smokers of the village.

A-iong is a village of upwards of a thousand inhabitants,
where for over twenty years there has been the nucleus of a
Christian church, but never in a very flourishing state.

Of late the opium-smoking had increased at an alarming
rate, and the price during the last five years having gone up
400 per cent, the fields and houses were being sold, and the
village was on the verge of going to pieces. Last December
four opium-smokers from the village had gone to the C. M. S.
hospital at Foochow, and were there cured by Dr. Wilkinson.

One of the men, whose wife also took opium, daily secreted
part of his allowance of pills, and when he returned home, cured
his wife with them. The fame of Dr. Wilkinson and his pills
became so great that the village determined to invite him to cure
their opium-smokers.

The elders and head-men of the village prepared a feast, at
which they considered what could be done, and through the
Christians they approached Miss Newton, who forwarded theit
invitation, with the result that the Doctor begau work with
them on March 2nd.

592 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

The head-men paid over to Dr. Wilkinson $50.00 towards
medical expenses and made an agreement v^ith him that all
opium-smokers of the village should be treated, all opium
utensils handed over, no outsiders allowed to come in, and that
they would be responsible for carrying out the Doctor* s
instructions as to the arrangements, maintenance of order, etc.

The village had five wards, over each of which was an
elder, and these five elders formed the authoritative council of
the village. The head of these five was a venerable old man,
eighty-four years of age, kind and dignified and respected by
all.

Besides the elders there were seven head-men, who took
upon themselves the carrying out of the details of the affair,
such as watching the door, helping in the giving out of
medicine, cleaning up, etc. ; in fact were acting hospital
orderlies.

Dr. Wilkinson took mainly the medical work, assisted by
one of his medical students, and I took charge of the services
and evangelistic work generally, being helped by different
catechists, a colporteur, Dr. Wilkinson's blind catechist, and
by the Doctor himself and his student.

We were quartered in one of the largest houses in the
village, that of a man named Ding, who had three grown-up
sons to break off" from the opium, one of whom was perhaps
the most abject of the patients and whom we dubbed the
*'Laung-cu" or Prodigal Son.

The opium-smoking men were all shut up in the largest
ancestral hall in the village — the Ding Su-dong — a very
large building, where the feasts of the Ding clan are held.

At the back end of this building was a large glass case
containing upwards of 350 ancestral tablets of the males of the
Ding clan, from the 19th to the 21st generations. The names
of the ist to the i8th generations were carved and gilded on a
board in a box-like shrine on the left of the glass case,
while on the right was another box shrine with sixteen
tablets of specially favoured females of the clan, for which
privilege of having tablets in the hall large sums had been paid
to the clan endowments. The present generation was the
22nd, and we were told that in a year or two most of
the tablets in the large case would be removed and one
large clan tablet put in to contain all the spirits of those
three generations, or else a board would be prepared I'dtV

1906.] Three Weeks with Opium Smokers. 593

all the names carved on it as with the former generations.
Once in thirty years is this done, and the great clan register is
then brought out and entries of all births and deaths brought
up to date. It was curious to notice some of the tablets
covered up with cloth or paper, as the persons whose spirit
tablets they were to be, had not yet died.

It was in this great hall that eighty opium-smoking men
gathered on March 2nd. Forty-eight beds, not counting those
for the doctor's assistant and catechists, which were in two
small rooms on either side, had been put up during the day,
and one by one the smokers with their bedding and sundries
for a three weeks' stay came in and took their places. Several
smokers from other villages came, but they were refused
admittance, as we were afraid of trouble from so many. The
whole village seemed to be on the spot, and it took some little
time to find whether all the patients, elders, and head-men
were present and to turn the others out so as to begin
proceedings. But finally this was done, and with the elders
sitting in state on the dais we offered up prayer, and the first
round for medicines was made.

The elders signed a document, which was posted outside
the hall, exhorting the people, amongst other things, to help
bring this matter to a satisfactory ending and warning all who
sold opium from this time on of the decision of the people and
elders to raze their houses to the ground and expel them from
the village. They signed extra copies of this document for Dr.
Wilkinson and myself. Meanwhile a petition had been sent
to the lying-kong mandarin, requesting him to issue a proclama-
tion forbidding for all time the sale of opium in the village,
and in a few days this was granted and the proclamation posted
up.

About thirty of the men were very poor, but the villagers
showed a fine public spirit by subscribing the funds necessary
for their three weeks' maintenance. Many cooked their food in
the hall, while others had food *brought from their homes
by relatives. It was touching at meal times to see little
children bringing in their father's rice and to realize what it
meant to them for their parents to be freed from this curse.

Besides these eighty men there were nine women smokers,
and these were gathered together in a private house under the
sole charge of Miss Marshall, assisted for a few days by Miss
Jackson.

594 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

The men ranged in age from twenty to about seventy
years ; five being over sixty, and several had smoked for over
thirty years.

One old man, sixty -four years old, had smoked opium for
thirty-five years. He was troubled with bronchitis, and after
two or three days' treatment in the hall he had got so low that
it was thought he would die. He was taken from the hall to a
miserable room adjoining a temple school, which was not
fit to be a stable, and which was his only home. Here he
continued the treatment and was cured, but his system had
sufiered so much that four weeks after he passed away. I had
several talks with the old man, and though he was not very
clear I believe he was truly on the Right Way.

It is interesting in looking over the list of names to see
the reasons why they took to opium. Eighteen said they
did it out of curiosity or for pleasure, but all the others were
ensnared into taking it for physical weakness, or illness of
some kind or another.

The physical distress of these poor men the first two
weeks was terrible ; tears streaming from their eyes, pain,
vomiting, and almost every ache and sickness that a person
could conceive of, while the craving was excruciating almost
up to the last day. Even the night before we broke up, a man
had the craving so bad he seemed quite unable to control
himself His muscles twitched and spasms racked his body.
Once I saw him, while lying flat on his back, in some
extraordinary way cause his whole body to spring about a foot
from the bed. I thought he was asleep and had had a
nightmare, but his comrades only laughed and said it was
* ' the craving, ' ' and that this was the fifth time he had tried
to give up opium !

Much prayer was offered on our behalf for this venture,
and from the first God was manifestly with us. The strain,
especially on Dr. Wilkinson, was very great, and over and
over again obstacles arose and the evil one showed his hand,
but by God's grace and power there was victory all along the
way.

Up to March 2nd there had been continuous rain, but on
that day the weather broke, and it remained fair until after the
three weeks, when continuous rain again came on. This was
indeed providential^ as in the large and very open hall it
would have been impossible and very risky to keep the men

1906.] Three Weeks with Opium Smokers. 595

in the draught and damp. The heathen remarked again and
again how God had prepared the fine weather for us, and that
He showed by this He was going to bless the village.

Naturally at the cutest we had very little encouragement
in our preaching and teaching. We used a small book with
a half dozen good hymns, the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Ten
Commandments, and a simple prayer. At morning and
evening prayers we sang these hymns, so that before long they
became very familiar with them, and the last week often sang
them by themselves.

We took turns at the preaching and simply preached
Christ and Him crucified. To me it was a wonderful lesson
as to the power of that message. Christ dying upon the Cross
for them ; no matter how often we dwelt upon it, this was
the only power that could draw them. One catechist we had
helping us for a few days seemed to get the men's hearts by
telling them of his own experience when breaking off opium.
A fellow-feeling was developed, and we hoped the catechist
would be greatly used, but after this he preached about
creation, history of the patriarchs, etc. He was a good story-
teller, but his message did not get the men's hearts, and we
were glad when he left and the story of the Cross was again
told and re-told. Besides the regular preaching we went from
bedside to bedside during the day, and this personal dealing
with the men did a great deal in melting the reserve and
diffidence to Christianity.

We held our services in the midst where the beds were
thickest. At first few from the outer beds came to the centre,
but before we closed, the centre aisle around our preaching
table used to be crowded, not only by the patients but by even
the head-men and elders. One of the head-men said to me one
night after the service and before his fellows : '^I don't know
anything, but I do know that Jesus loves me."

One interesting old man was a native doctor. He was
very reticent at the beginning, an3 we feared he would give us
much trouble so we made him an object of very special prayer.
His bed was in an out of the way place, not seen from the table.
On the evening of the 9th day I was preaching on the power
of Jesus crucified, when in the middle of the address the old
doctor walked up the main aisle and stood by my side till I
finished, when he joined with us in the lyord's Prayer, and then
thanking me he went quietly back to his bed. About a week

596 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

after this he definitely asked me to pray for him, and before
we left he told me his decision to worship God, and he has
regularly attended church up to the present. He also told me
a sad story of his former connection with Christianity in this
village. About twenty years ago he was an enquirer and
very great friend with the catechist of the church. This
catechist borrowed money from him, and before re-paying it
was transferred to another church. The catechist who
succeeded him would not use his influence to get the other
catechist to pay up, and the debt was never paid. From that
day the old man and his relatives would have nothing to do
with Christianity, and only the opium curing has brought him
back.

We had the gramophone for the men almost daily, and it
was always a source of wonder and pleasure to them, and took
their minds off their troubles. Besides this we had lantern
exhibitions, and the crowning excitement was when they saw
themselves and their friends on the sheet ; I had taken their
photographs and made lantern slides from them, and their
wonder knew no bounds.

It was impossible to keep these good things for the opium
patients only, so nothing would do but that we must have them
in the great temple for the whole village. We had an after-
noon meeting there, with the gramophone as the attraction,
and good seed was sown that day I feel sure. We had also two
night meetings with the lantern. This large temple is also
used as the village theatre, so it was very convenient to arrange
that the women and children should be on the theatre platform
and galleries and the men in the main part of the temple
with the sheet between.

It was such a crush that my old colporteur said there were
" over six thousand ' ' there, but there were probably six
hundred at any rate. When their friends appeared on the sheet
they simply shrieked with excitement, and I am sure those
villagers will never forget it. We also had the lantern and
gramophone for the women patients, and were able to arrange
some good meetings for women and children in our host^s
house. The whole village, as well as the opium-smokers, were
stirred up about Christianity as the days went on. My room
was upstairs over the kitchen of the house, and often I heard
the women below discussing Christianity. One day I heard the
old lady of the house say : ' ' We must certainly become Chris-

1906.] Three Weeks with Opium Smokers. 597

tians and worship God ;" and her daughter-in-law answered :
**Yes! It is the only way by which we can get to heaven.''
Her husband was the * Prodigal Son ' mentioned above, and
that very day he had put his hand on my shoulder and said
twice : ** I'm going to follow you and worship God now."

One night I had been preaching on the power of the Blood
of Jesus, and afterwards many gathered round me to talk it over.
One wanted to know ' if he became a Christian how much
doctrine he would have to learn.' Two others I overheard
talking to themselves; one said: *' These foreigners don't
want anything but that we should go to heaven with them,"
and the other answered: *'It's true, and there is no doubt
there is a devil and hell. ' '

Difficulties now and again cropped up. Sometimes the
men were sullen and would not take their medicine. Another
time one man was found to have little opium pellets upon him,
which had been smuggled in. We took his pills from him
and refused to give out any more medicine until the elders
had come and sat in conclave upon the case. Upon the
assurance that nothing more of this nature would take place
the matter was allowed to pass. One morning we awoke to
find that two of the smokers had broken out during the night
and were not to be found. Upon enquiry as to how they had
got out, we were told that they had ^ * flown away. ' ' These two
were worthless young fellows, who bunked with the group
we called the "mandarins," because they were so dirty and
squalid. About five of these men were huddled in the box
compartments above which the tablets were arranged, while
the two who fled slept in one of the small side boxes only
three and a half by four feet square.

We heard afterwards that they had gone to a town about
six miles off and would no more be allowed to return to A-iong.

But the greatest excitement was reserved for the end.
The day before the break-up. Dr. Wilkinson and I started the
round to take down the names sftid personal history of each
case. We had reached the fifth man when the Doctor' s servant
rushed in and threw something on a table by me and said :
** There, Mr. White, see that." It looked to me at first like
a butterfly, but I soon saw it was some opium on the usual
piece of a dry leaf, ready for smoking. He told us he had
gone into a house to buy a fowl and there found a man get-
ting ready to smoke this. We at once got the head-me

598 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

together and went to the house. The inmates denied having
any opium utensils and declared this opium was what was lett
over from before. However we made them unlock drawers
and cupboards and searched high and low, with the result
that several opium lamps, probes, scales, and an opium boiler
were found, besides some of Dr. Wilkinson's pills, but no pipe.
Finally after many threats from the head-men, the man's
wife brought out the pipe, which is now in my possession.
The son of this man was in the hall breaking off opium, but
lie himself did not go, as he was too ill, so he said, and his
son had reserved some of his pills for his father. The villagers
determined that the man must break from the opium if he
wanted to remain on in the village, so upon his paying $i.oo
the Doctor left medicine with the head-men to be given daily
to the man, and it is satisfactory to know that he was cured,
and now after four months is still all right.

The finding of this opium led us to think that other
places also might have some, so we determined to make a raid
upon all the houses where opium had formerly been sold or
smoked, as any opium left in the village would be a temptation
to the smokers. Some of the places got wind of our coming,
and we were able to get very little, except in the house of the
old doctor, where we found a pipe, a boiler, some lamps,
scales, a little opium, and several odds and ends. In the after-
noon we went unexpectedly to a little group of houses on the
outskirts of the village, where lived one of the women
patients. For a long time her daughter-in-law would not let
us enter the house, but finally we were allowed in and made
a thorough search. We found several opium requisites, but
one drawer in a table that we were very suspicious of was
locked, and the woman declared the key was with her mother-
in-law. There was nothing for it but to carry the table ofif
for the woman herself to open in our presence. On the way
we met the son, who was greatly amused at our carrying away
his mother's table. He was able to open the drawer for us,
and finding nothing of importance in it, we allowed him to
carry the table back home.

On March 22nd, the last day, we dealt with the men
individually to find out if possible the stand they would take
as to Christianity. Of the 79, as far as we could make out,
43 had definitely decided to become Christians, and were
praying, though about half of these were not as yet very clear.

1906.] Three Weeks with Opium Smokers. 599

Of the others we were uncertain about ten of them, and the
remainder we felt were not sincere, though they assured us
they would now worship God.

Only one man, the eldest son of our host, did not declare
for Christianity. He said: ''I do not worship God, neither
do I worship idols, but if the opium curse falls from me,
then I will worship your God.'* By the power of God this
man is still free from the opium, and though a wreck phy-
sically and suffering a great deal, has gone to church several
times.

On the afternoon of the 22nd we had a farewell service,
at which all the elders and head-men were present. Several
of us gave a last few words, two of the elders spoke, and after
the Doctor and I had thanked all for their kindness, I closed
with prayer. The medicines were then given to each man
for the last time, and we all left. They were all very grateful
to us and spoke of the goodness of God to them. One old
man expressed what seemed to be the attitude of all when he
said to Dr. Wilkinson : *'I thank God first and then I thank
you and Mr. White." The next morning the village turned
out cji masse and sent us off in state. Our chairs, provided
by the villagers, were decorated with red silk, and presents
of fowls were hanging behind.

God had indeed been with us, and I felt it was the most
telling evangelistic work I had had the privilege of engaging in
in China.

Five weeks later I unexpectedly spent a Sunday at A-iong.
To my joy I found that nearly all who had been cured of
opium were attending church and had enrolled their names,
while the head-men, as well as the elders, were also coming.
Of the men we had felt certain about only one had not been
coming to church, and to our surprise w^e found it was because
he was a Taoist priest, and, as they expressed it, was too much
*' tied by the deviPs bonds."

This man w^as one oi the best and most diligent of the
enquirers at the *'Su-dong," and knew the doctrine well.
I went to see him, and he seemed very much ashamed of
himself. He acknowledged, before all the people present,
that Christianity was true and th'at he should put away Taoism
and become a Christian, but he said : *'I cannot work in the
fields, and this is the only means I have of gaining a
livelihood. ' *

600 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

I went to many houses in the village and received a
splendid reception from all. Since then we have heard that
everything is still encouraging, and the Christians have had
to rent a larger house to accommodate all who come to service.
We have put our best catechist there for six months, and he
is doing excellent work.

So far, of the 79, only one has gone back to opium, and
he has fled from the town.

A Message for the Times *

•*That they may all be one .... that the world may believe that Thou
didst send Me." John xvii. 21.

BY REV. E. BOX.

IT has been the custom for those whom our Association has
honoured from time to time by calling them to its Presi-
dential chair to give what we may call a '' Valedictory
Address" at the close of their year of office. If a collection
of these addresses could be made, they might appropriately be
published under the title of * ^ Tracts for the Times ^ ' for, as a
rule, they have dealt with questions of outstanding importance
in connection with missionary work in China.

With this thought in mind I have asked myself what sub-
ject I should bring before you for consideration and discussion.
One subject, and one only, seems to stand out prominently
above all others as claiming special attention at our hands, and
that is the 7ieed for closer federatioji of the Christian churches
in China for the purpose of consolidating and strengthening our
missionary work and preparing the way for a united Chinese
Christian church. In choosing this topic as the one of
prime importance to-day I feel confident that I am at the same
time voicing your own feelings. In our hopes and aspirations
for closer union we are at one. In dealing, however, with any
particular scheme of federation, or in discussing ways and means
I cannot presume to speak for any but myself. It is my
hope that a frank discussion this evening, followed by a season
of prayerful meditation in our.'' prophet* s chamber," the sacred
spot where we hold fellowship with God, will prepare us for
dealing with this question along the line of God*s will at the

* Valedictory address at the Shanghai Missionary Association, June 5, 1906.

1906.] A Message for the Times. 601

General Conference next year. We must as individual souls
receive each for himself the revelation of God's thought and
purpose in this matter if we are to have a controlling share in
the realisation of any permanently satisfactory external union.
No pious vote, given without due thought and meditation, simply
to make a majority vote unanimous, can add strength to such a
movement or give us the privileges of partnership in it. Personal
conviction of what God wills, so far as we have been able to
realize it, whether it unites us in happy union with our
colleagues, or on the other hand, calls on us to stand like
Athanasius, or Luther, in isolation from them, is the only justi-
fication we can have for recording our vote in any council of
the church and the only ground for claiming a share in the
carrying out of God's gracious purposes. Any action taken
apart from this personal conviction, no matter on which side it
may place us, not only deprives us of the privilege of being
fellow-workers with God, but, alas, places us among those who
are hindering the coming of Christ's kingdom. As leaders in
the church of Christ, we must neither be *dumb driven cattle,*
nor well-meaning but shallow Don Quixotes^ having no right
sense of proportion and unable to distinguish between real
foes and windmills. We must be on our guard, too, against the
subtle pride of opposition and independence, the fruitful cause
of much unholy sectarian strife.

The subject for our consideration this evening is, then, the
Call for closer federation with a view to a united church of
Christ in China.

To get straight to the heart of the matter let us briefly
consider first :

I. The Call of China for Federation,

We are to-day face to face with a new China. The leaven
of new thoughts and ideals has been thrown into the meal of
this ancient kingdom, and fermentation has been set up, pro-
ducing profound and surprising results. Or, to change the
illustration, the dead bones of a worn out ancient civilization
have been breathed upon and behold a shaking, and the bones
have come together, bone to his bone, and sinews and flesh have
come up upon these bones and the skin has covered them above,
but, must we not say in words of the prophet, **as yet there
is no breath in them?" Could there be a more apt illustration
or more correct description of China as she is to-day ? Shall we

602 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

too not cry out with the prophet Ezekiel, " Come from the four
winds O breath,'' *'and breathe upon these slain that they
may live?" These two similes, though in a sense con-
tradictory, are yet both applicable to China. The leaven
of a new life is already at work, especially in individual
lives, but the movement in the nation as a whole is, for
the most part, due to external shock, is galvanic in fact.
May the spirit of life enter in with quickening power and make
these dead bones live ! Can we not by faith already see the
vision Ezekiel saw? ''And the breath came into them and
they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army. ' '

China is, by God's grace and might, about to stand on her
feet and become a living power in the world. Already there
is 'the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees,' the
sign that God is going forth to lead His forces to battle and to
victory. As in all great movements there is a confused blending
of forces, good and evil, and as one's temperament is either
sanguine or despondent, so one's interpretation and forecast is
apt to be hopeful or pessimistic. I have recently been making
a tour of the country stations in connection with our Mission.
The impressions made on my mind by what I saw and heard
have been deep and striking. The spirit of change is in the
air. The old order is giving place to new. Everywhere schools
of the "New Learning" for girls, as well as boys, are springing
up, not only in cities and towns, but also in the large villages.
The sun of the ancient scholarship is setting and a new sun
is rising in its place. Then, too, everywhere in connection
with these new schools and amongst the young men, physical
culture is playing a great part. Athletic societies are being
formed, recreation grounds are being purchased and fenced in
and fitted up with gymnastic apparatus. Most of these schools
have their special uniforms, and young China evidently is to
follow Japan in adopting Western dress. The old dress,
picturesque and graceful as it undoubtedly is, has to give way
before the desire for a more active and strenuous life. We may
and perhaps do regret the change of costume, but young China
must be left to decide what it wants for itself.

Then everywhere the youths are being drilled, either as
volunteers, or as militia to serve a few years with the regular
army and then to form a reserve, with a retaining fee, to be
called up as occasion demands. There is a spirit of restlessness

1906.] A Message for the Times. 60}

abroad and a growing determination to stand up against foreign
dictation and control.

Text-books on "patriotism" are used in the new schools,
and the pupils are urged to devote themselves to the interests
and welfare of their country.

I do not for a moment think that there is any national
anti-foreign movement. The desire is not attack, but defence.
It is China's manhood asserting itself, as all China's true friends
have long desired that it should.

Reading Lecky's "England in the Eighteenth Century"
I came across the following sentence the other day: "The
attempt of a French king (Louis XIV.) to prescribe to the English
people the sovereign whom they should obey, touched acutely
that sentiment of national jealousy of foreign interference
which was then (and is still) the strongest of English senti-
ments.'*

The same writer quotes from a speech of the great British
statesman Pitt in the House of Commons, in which he justified
the resistance of the colonists of America to the hated Stamp
Act before the war of independence. Pitt's words were as follows :
"I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people,
so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit
to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of
the rest."

Lecky says : " The principle which (in England) led Hamp-
den to refuse to pay twenty shillings of ship money was
substantially the same as that which inspired (in America) the
resistance to the Stamp Act."

May we who are the "Sons of Freedom and Liberty"
not forget at this crisis in her history to extend to China
our cordial sympathy in her legitimate ambition to be a free
people in a free State. Let us pray earnestly that she may
feel her need of divine help and guidance in her great
endeavour.

It is here where China's present danger lies. The absence
of the purifying and restraining power of a lofty religious ideal,
so potent for good in the formation of character, makes such
movements as are taking place in China to-day full of danger,
and the best friends of China cannot but be anxious on her
account. There are two dangerous elements : (i) the yo2uig
student class ^ well-meaning, but rash, inexperienced and of un-
balanced judgment, and (2) the large disaffected, loafing and

604 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

criminal classes who swell the membership of the numerous
secret societies and who are clever enough to use the former as
their tools.

During my recent journey I was much impressed with
the feeling of intense bitterness that is growing up against the
Roman Catholics and the French, who are supposed to give the
members of that church their support in its political propaganda.
It is a dangerous storm centre. The wrath of a people, nursed
and long suppressed, is apt to burst out at last in a torrent
engulfing guilty and innocent alike.

From many parts of China there are signs that this rest-
lessness of foreign control is showing itself within the church
as well as without. This is bound to be increasingly the case
as the national spirit grows and expands. If it means that the
Chinese Christians are feeling an increasing desire to take
over the control of the church and relieve us foreign mission-
aries from the burden of work and responsibility, this surely
is a good sign and a call to us to devote the chief part of
our energies and resources to the training of efficient native
leaders and the welding into a compact whole the unorganized
units which now make up the church of Christ in China. It
will certainly be a wise policy to prepare and equip the native
church for this duty and privilege of complete self-government,
and in so doing to show our Chinese brethren that such a
consummation is one that no one will more gladly welcome than
the foreign missionary.

The wisdom of parents is seen in the training of their
children for the duties and responsibilities of manhood and
womanhood, and the reward of the parents is obtained when in
glad confidence they can trust them to walk alone. When the
day comes that our spiritual children desire their independence
may we not have to confess that they are unfit for it, and may
they not have to feel that there is unwillingness on our part
to entrust them with the control of their church. It should
be a proud and glad day alike for them and for us when we
can stand down and hand over to them full responsibility for
the Ark of God and leave the guidance and control of the
church of Christ in China to the Holy Spirit and the Chinese
Christians.

One fact needs impressing deeply on our minds, and that
is, that there are to-day not less than seventy separate organiza-
tions carrying on the work of the Protestant Christian church

1906.] A Message for the Times. 605

in China. Shall we foreign missionaries leave these seventy
separate organizations as a legacy to the young Christian
church of China, or shall we not rather seek so to federate
them that they may become a compact whole, units in one
great organized church of Christ, united as one to do battle
against the forces of evil and to work for the accomplishment
of Christ's kingdom ? In view of the growing spirit of nation-
ality in China, with the cry of "China for the Chinese,''
and complete independence from foreign control, and in
view of the fact of the seventy separate organizations repre-
senting Protestant missionary work in this land, are we not
imperatively called upon by our loyalty to the "Great Head
of the church" and in the interests of the church of Christ in
China, to bring together our separate units and link them into
a federation which shall be the germ ot the united church of
Christ in China ?

I would like to note briefly in the second place :

2. The Call of the World for Federation,

This call to the federation of Christian organizations in
China is part of a world-wide vioz'emcut which is drawing
man to man in spite of racial, national, and religious distinc-
tions. This spirit and ideal found expression in a leading
article which appeared a short time since in the N,- China
Daily News (May 24th) : " We have passed through the family
and tribal stage into that in which the unit is the State, the largest
organization as yet found practicable. What is now wanted is
a new and greater unit to secure the advancement of the race,^^
Education, literature, commerce, and especially religion have
been the factors drawing together these various national units
into a closer community of interest and bond of brotherhood
and creating ideals and aspirations looking towards the ' * parlia-
ment of man the federation of the world." International
societies and assemblies to discuss problems of labour, health,
science, social questions, peace, suppression of vice, etc., are all
the result of this community of interest and are the means of
strengthening this world-wide brotherhood. The success of
"Esperanto," the new world language, points in the same
direction. I see that recently Dr. Clark, the founder of the
Christian Endeavour movement, has suggested that Endeavourers
all the world over should use this language for international
work, conventions, etc.

606 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

3. The Call of the Chtirch for Federation,

Federation — union of forces — is the outstanding char-
acteristic of the Christian church in all lands to-day. The
corrupt stagnation of the uniformity of the church in the
middle ages was followed by the renaissance without and the
reformation within ; the former an intellectual and the
latter a religious protest. The churches of the Reformation
were the result. In matters of faith these were not a new
creation ; their ritual, creed and government had their roots in the
first four centuries of the Christian history and their ideals were
those of the New Testament. For a long period the centrifugal
forces, breaking away from the old centre — Rome — produced
a succession of churches, each a little world in itself, revolving
upon its own axis. The contrast from the dead uniformity
of Roman Catholicism was most striking. (I do not forget the
founding of the great religious orders, which were protests of
spiritual forces against the world spirit i7t the church and the
world, but they did not lead to severance from the Catholic
church). The reformation was as though a seed pod had burst,
scattering its living germs of life in all directions which, taking
root, soon sprang up as new and vigorous growths independent
of the parent plant. It was a great protest of individualism
refusing to be sacrificed on the altar of the church's authority.
The chief countries that took the lead in this protest —
Germany and England — belonged to the Anglo-Saxon race.
The countries of the Latin race for the most part held back
from the movement. Germany, Great Britain and America
are to-day throbbing with energetic life. The Latin countries,
excepting to some extent France, lack virility and power of
initiative. Compare the United States and Canada with Mexico
and the countries of South America. Could the contrast be
greater? Where there is no liberty of conscience, there is
stunted growth all round ; freedom of thought is necessary to
the full development of manhood. If foot-binding is an evil,
how much greater an evil must be the binding of the mind and
conscience. We have glanced then at the great centrifugal
movement of Protestantism — the expulsion of living seeds from
the pod of the church. Now let us consider the great centri-
petal movement which is taking place in the churches in our
own day. A movement which, where its laws are rightly
understood and carried out does not destroy the centrifugal or

1906.] A Message for the Times. 607

individualistic force, but adds a new force which, working in
conjunction with it, produces not the inertness and stagnation of
an enforced uniformity, but an equilibrium of forces such as
we see in the mighty and harmonious movements of our solar
system. This attraction of the various units of the church to a
new centre, and the resultant harmonious working of the parts as
one great whole, is, then, the outstanding feature characterizing
the religious and ecclesiastical life of our own day. When I
speak of the attraction of the units to a new centre I do not
forget that at no time has Christ, as the life-giving centre of
the church, ever been absent. If He had been at any time
absent, the church, which is His body, must have ceased to live.
But it was as though one of the planets in the solar system
had attempted to capture the sun and imprison it in itself,
using its force to draw into and absorb in itself all the other
planets. This centre was self-made and unreal. This bold and
ambitious policy of Rome was carried to its logical conclusion at
the Council of Trent, where the doctrine of transubstantiation
and the infallibility of the Pope as God's vice-gerent on earth
were boldly affirmed and the machinery of the inquisition re-
organized to force man's will into subjection to its authority.
As Milton puts it in another connection,

•• Aspiring to set himself in glory above his peers
He trusted to have equalled the Most High."

Against this, Protestantism was, as we have seen, a revolt.
In refusing to recognize Rome as a centre the church, however,
was in danger of finding its component units (each making an
orbit for itself), acting, not as planets, part of an orderly and har-
monious system, but rather as comets. As the science of astron-
omy puts it : * ' The orbits of all the planets are nearly circular ;
the orbits of comets, on the other hand, present every variety
of eccentricity." Here then came in the constraint of the new
centripetal force. Over against the freedom of thought and will,
and the liberty of the conscience, came the constraining power of
the living Christ, to whom all alike perforce yielded obedience.
Loyalty to Christ was made suj5reme and the wills of men
became more and more blended into oneness with His, harmony
began to grow out of discord, union take the place of disunion,
and to-day we see the various units, without losing their own
individuality and freedom, growing into a new and harmonious
whole. The new Catholicism which is in course of development
to-day differs very markedly from the old Catholicism. The

608 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

spiritual forces of the early Christian church by God's provi-
dence were pOured into the mould of imperialistic Rome, the
church first finding protection under its shadow, then having
passed through its baptism of fire, winning for itself a place of
influence and power in the empire, shaping and being shaped by
*' Imperial Rome," and then, as that empire declined and fell,
taking its place as the great world Power, ruling the nations,
much as Rome had done on aristocratic and imperialistic lines.

In the course of the centuries, as the human race developed
under the influences of religion, education and commerce, the
centre of power was gradually transferred from the few to the
many, and government by democracy, the will of the people
acting through its elected representatives, took the place of
government by the one or the few. The new Catholicism is
the pouring of the forces of the Christian church into this new
mould which that same providence of God has prepared. It
is a free, democratic and federated Catholicism, a willing co-
operation of equals acting under a common impulse, and not a
Catholicism of uniformity under absolutism. That is, it is a
Catholicism in which each individual unit derives its life direct
from the incarnate Christ through His gift to them of the
indwelling Spirit, and it is the possession of this common
life that links the individuals with groups and through which
the federated groups become the Catholic church of Christ.
It is, in short, a theocratic democracy such as God prepared
for His chosen people, but which they failed to live up to.
The new seat of authority is to be found not in the one or
the few who are in the high places of any church, but in the
voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through those who possess the
divine life, first as individuals^ then as a churchy and finally
through the codified laws of the kingdom, viz., the Word of
God. There is, therefore, a three-fold basis for authority, each
acting as a check on the others, but all alike demanding the
presence of, and absolute loyalty to, the living Spirit of the
Christ, who is the one and only Head of the church.

This great movement which I have named the New Catholic-
ism 'is rapidly transforming Protestantism, with its historic
negations and its all too provincial conception of the church,
into a great, free, united and spiritual Catholic church. The
first historical manifestation of this new Catholicism was, strange
as it may seem to some of us, the great Oxford or Tractarian
movement of 1830-40. It was a powerful and effective protest

1906.] A Message for the Times. 609

against a provincial view of the church, against the confining
of the church's life to sectarian, national and geographical limi-
tations. It was a protest against the centrifugal tendencies of
Protestantism. Unhappily, as it seems to me, many of the leaders
failed to shake themselves free from the old imperialistic con-
ceptions of Catholicity, and, missing the true and only satisfactory
solution, were drawn into the fold of Rome. But the germ
thought of the movement, the corporate life of all the disciples of
Christ, members of the one church supreme and universal, has,
from that time, been working like leaven among Christians,
uniting them into closer fellowship with each other and
drawing the various groups of Christians into closer union
and more harmonious effort in Christian work. Perhaps the
most striking result of this new movement is the **Free Church
Federation" which has linked into one great organization
all the evangelical churches in England outside the Church of
England. The whole country is mapped out into districts, in
each one of which there is a Free Church Council, each church
as a unit electing its representatives, lay and clerical. These
District Councils consult on all matters dealing with the welfare
of the churches and the application of the Christian spirit and
ideals to the social and religious problems of their respective
districts. These district unions are linked together into County
Unions, and these again into a National Council, with a
president and other officers elected annually and with a per-
manent secretary and staff. In this Free Church Federation
we have a precedent and a model for the proposed closer federa-
tion of the seventy Protestant organizations now engaged in
Christian work in this country. By such a federation our
work would be immensely strengthened, there would be a
conservation of energy, unity in attack upon the forces of
darkness, and a manifestation to the Chinese and the world of
the Christian spirit of unity. The Chinese Christians, too, would
feel that they belonged to one great organization, an army in
which the separate units were not each fighting independently
and irrespective of the others, but in intelligent and happy
co-operation under trusted leadership.

Another result of this centripetal or new Catholic move-
ment has been the bringing into corporate union sections of
the church that are closely allied to each other, and thus lessen-
ing the number of denominations and helping to close the
breach caused by "our unhappy divisions." In Scotland the

610 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

Congregationalists and Evangelical Union united, followed later
by the United and Free Presbyterians forming one United
Free church. Three of the smaller Methodist bodies in England
are on the point of becoming one, the first step in the union
into one great church of all the Methodist bodies in England,
which it is hoped will be accomplished in the course of a few
years. This union has already taken place in all the British
colonies. A more striking union is in course of consummation
in the dominion of Canada between three different and more
widely separated denominations — the Baptist, Congregationalist
and the Methodist churches. We have not yet seen the end
of this movement, not only towards oneness of heart, but also
oneness of body ; but it is a movement that must not be unduly
hastened. Two pieces of metal must be first made white with
heat before they can be welded into one solid bar. It requires
the Pentecostal fire to make us willing and glad to have all
things in common.

And now let us ask ourselves what are the prospects of
union amongst us here in China to-day. Much, thank God,
has already been done, but much remains yet to be accom-
plished. In the past we have had happy and effective union
in Bible and tract work and in the dissemination of useful
literature. We have had united prayer-meetings and meetings
for consultation about our common work — the work of preach-
ings healing and teaching — and we have had committees more
numerous than may perhaps have been good for our health, but
all helping us to know and respect and love each other better
and teaching us to pull together in harness with others. Chris-
tian Endeavour and Y. M. C. A. work, anti-opium and anti-
foot-binding societies and such like have all been as shuttles
weaving our separate denominational threads into a whole and
making it into a fair pattern. But has not the time come when
we must give to the world a more striking and convincing
proof of our unity ? There are, as we have indicated, two lines
on which we may proceed — that of corporate union and that
oi federated union.

As regards the former we had a welcome illustration the
other day in the union of the Northern and Southern branches
of the American Presbyterian Church in the three provinces
of KiangsUy Chekiang and Hunan into one synod. The
larger union of all the Presbyterian bodies in China into a
Presbyterian church of Christ in China will also, it is hoped, soon

1906.] A Message for the Times. 611

be happily consummated. The American Baptists, North and
South, are also uniting in educational work. That is as it
should be. If it is natural for birds of a feather to flock
together, it should not be regarded as anything but the right
and natural thing for the different branches of any one denom-
ination to come together. This is nature a^id not the mirac*
uloMS or SMpernaturaL The miracle of grace will be seen
when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall
lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and
the fatling together. This is a union of federation and not
corporate union.

The lamb and the kid and the calf in this vision of the
millenium are not in fear of being devoured by the wolf and
the leopard and the young lion. This federated union, or the
union of different denojninatioiis in common work, has also very
happily had a commencement in China. The union of the
English Baptists and American Presbyterians for educational
work in Shantung, of the L. M. S. and the American Board
and American Presbyterians for educational and medical work in
Peking and Tungchow, of the English Presbyterian Mission and
the L. M. S. for educational work in Amoy, of the American
Methodists and the Foreign Christian Mission in Nanking, are
a few illustrations of this kind of union that occur to me. As
yet, so far as I know, we have nothing of the sort in Shanghai.
I would venture to suggest that a beginning might well be
made by establishing in Shanghai and in other centres a union
normal college. The Chinese Educational Association in
Shanghai have eight normal schools with 560 students. We
Christian educationists should surely be up and doing, for
well-trained Christian teachers, male and female, are sadly
needed. Later on perhaps something also might be attempted
in the way of a union medical school, and, though the prob-
lems would be much greater, a union theological college.

The missionary body and the Christian church in China
are under a deep debt of obligation to the earnest, patient, and
successful efforts of the friends in North China and especially
Peking in the cause of union. The Pei-tai-ho Conference of
August, 1904, and the Peking Conference of September, 1905,
have shown conclusively that there is a rising tide in the
churches in favour of union.

The steps to be taken to float the movement are as fol-
lows : — The provinces of China are grouped into/<7wr divisions —

612 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

Northern, Western, Central and Southern. Each division has a
secretary appointed by the Peking Committee. It is the duty of
these four secretaries to take steps to form four Divisional Com-
mittees^ one in each district. Each mission working in that
district to count as a unit and elect its representative. Each
Divisional Committee is to meet this summer, if possible, and
elect the Representative Coiuicil^ viz., one foreign and one
Chinese for every loo missionaries. Working out the figures,
as far as I am able, it gives a Representative Council of twenty-
one foreign and twenty-one Chinese, viz.: —

N. 621 missionaries. 6 foreign representatives and 6 Chinese representatives.

W. 210 ,, 2 ,, ,, 2 ,, ,,

C. 795 ,, 8 „ ,, 8 ,, „

S. 527 »» 5 i> ») 5 >» «)

2,153 21 21

This Representative Council is to take into consideration
the tentative scheme of federation drawn up by the Peking
Committee on Union and to present a report on this and other
matters to the Centenary Conference of 1907 for its consideration
and revision. Now a word on this tentative scheme. With
your permission I would make a few suggestions for considera-
tion and discussion.

TENTATIVE SCHEME.
Title. — Instead of ''The Federation of the Christian
Churches in China" I would suggest the following : —

1. TzV/^. — " The Chinese Church Federation. ' »

2. Object. — (i) "To federate all Christian churches in
China with a view to closer union hereafter.'' I would add (2)
and with a view to more effective work. (3). To secure also
through its executive a responsible and effective organ for
voicing the thoughts and policy of the churches.

3. To provide in its executive a medium of communica-
tion between the federate churches and (i) the Chinese govern-
ment. (2). The governments of other lands with whom it
may be necessary in the interest of the Chinese and others to
communicate. (3). Other Christian churches, whether in China
or in other lands.

In this way by official manifestos the federated church
may give expression to its thought and ideals, and by the action
of the executive its decisions may be made effective. In this
tentative scheme I see no difficulty whatever in the way of this
great and much longed for work of federation being accepted

1906.] A Message for the Times, 61 3

by all, whether individual missionaries or societies, until we
come to Methods^ Section j». Work ; Sub-sections i, 2 and 6, we
can all agree upon, but after carefully reading through this I20
pages Report, ' ' Records of a Conference on Federation held in
Peking, 1905,'* I venture to suggest to the Representative
Council that in presenting their report to the 1907 Conference
they omit sub-sections 3, 4 and 5, as it is very evident that there
are still grave difficulties in the way of securing conscientious
unanimity on these points. Don't endanger the cause of
federation by raising debateable points at this stage but first
7nake quite sure of federation itself then apply its details. Union
on these will, I firmly believe, come in the near future; don't
unduly force the pace. On the question of the need for federation
we stand, I believe, as one. Let us strike then while the iron is
hot. There is one other point to be considered. If this new
Federated Council is formed, what is to become of the Mission-
ary Alliance ? Shall it be merged in the new organization or
not ? If, as I hope, the Federated Council widens its scope and
becomes the official executive voice of the churches, there
would be no need for its separate existence. There is also the
Evangelical Alliance which covers partly the same ground.
I would suggest that the executives of these two Societies put
themselves into touch with the Representative Council when it
is elected, with a view to union if it is deemed advisable,
I trust the organization of the federation will be on the lines
of the very successful Free Church Council in England, viz.,
District Councils, electing members to Provincial Councils, and
these electing members to the National Council ; the latter hav-
ing one foreign and one Chinese paid permanent secretary and
an executive and president elected annually.

Should we not here in the Shanghai district form ourselves
into a District Council or Advisory Committee similar to that in
West China without delay? say in the early autumn. There
are many pressing questions, such as the division of the field,
overlapping, the status of church membership, our relations to
the officials, to the Roman Catholic Church and its propoganda
(not in any spirit of provocation or attack but in the cause of
union), united efforts in evangelistic work and special missions
for revival, work through the Christian Press and secular
Press, etc., etc.

This would bring to a practical test our ideals and aspirations
in the direction of union, and if acted upon afford us a means

614 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

of becoming well drilled and disciplined soldiers in the Army of
Union. In the early part of my paper I spoke of the call that
comes to us to union and the federation of our forces as three-fold :

(i). The call from China in view of the rising national
spirit.

(2). The call of the world, the drawing into closer union
of man as man, the vision of the federation of the race.

(3). The call of the church, the great centripetal move-
ment, the growing spirit of Catholicity.

Now let me close with a fourth and last great call — the
greatest call of all to federation and union, viz., the Call of
Christ, Above all other voices the call of Christ rings in
our ears. *'That they may all be one that the world may
believe that Thou didst send me.'* (John xvii. 21). It
was His dying request. In that wonderful chapter which
gives us Christ's sacrificial prayer, He unveils to us His
heart. He permits us to stand in that Sacred Presence
Chamber, where He and the Father are holding communion
together, and the burden of the prayer that He permits us to
overhear is that we. His disciples, may manifest to the world
the spirit of love and union which is the God-like antithesis of
the hatreds, and discords, and divisions of those who are the
children of darkness. So the world seeing this spirit of loving
unity in the followers of Christ may come to believe that He
is the God -sent Saviour and the Prince of Peace. A new
commandment I give unto you that ye love one-another. If ye
love me, ye will keep my commandments. Dear friends, let us
love one another as He gave us commandment. lyct us satisfy
the longing of His heart "that we [may all be one." "And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, neither said any of them that aught of the
things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things
common, and great power and great grace was upon them all.'*

Psalm ijj : —

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity.

It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran
down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to
the skirts of his garments.

As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion ; for there the Lord commanded
the blessing even life for evermore.

1906.] In Memoriam. 61S

3n fIDemortatn :— Biebop Scbereacbeweft?.

BY THE RIGHT REV. P. R. GRAVES, D.D.

The life of Bishop Schereschewsky was such a remarkable one
and the work which he accompHshed for China was so great that his
death in Tokio on the 15th of September demands more than a
passing notice. Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky was born
May, 1831, in the town of Tauroggen, in Russian Lithuania; his
parents being Jews. In the autumn of 1854 he came to the United
States, vvhere he embraced Christianity and became a student at the
General Theological Seminary, New York. He was ordained July,
1859, by the elder Bishop Boone, and immediately after went with
him to China, where he was ordained priest on Sts. Simon and Jude's
Day, i860, in the Church of Our Saviour, Shanghai. He remained
in Shanghai for two years, studying both the Shanghai colloquial
and the Mandarin, together with classical Chinese, and then moved
to Peking and resided there for thirteen years, from 1862 to 1875.
He was engaged in mission work, but his chief occupation, as
throughout his long life, was the translation of the Bible. He
translated the entire Old Testament into Mandarin, working alone
at the task, while the New Testament was being translated by a
committee. This translation has been the one in common use in
China since it was completed, and in its revised form holds its place
to-day. ... In 1865, in conjunction with Dr. Burdon, afterwards
Bishop of Victoria, he translated the Prayer Book into Mandarin.

In 1868 he was married at Shanghai to Miss Susan M. Waring
and in 1875 returned with his wife and two children to the United
States on furlough. In the autumn of the same year he was
appointed by the House of Bishops to the Bishopric of Shanghai, but
declined. He was again appointed in 1876, and after much doubt
and hesitation finally accepted and was consecrated in Grace Church,
New York, October 3, 1877. In the meantime he had employed
himself in soliciting funds for founding a college in China, and
upon his return in 1878 the property at Jessfield was bought and
the corner stone of the first St. John's College laid on Easter Mon-
day, 1879. St. Mary's Hall^ a school for girls, was also founded on
the same piece of property.

In 1879 the Bishop translated the Prayer Book into Wen-li.
About this time the station at Wuchang was left without a mission-
ary and the Bishop moved with his family to Wuchang and under-
took the work of that station and the building of a church in
addition to his work of translation and the regular duties of the
episcopate. Here in the summer of 1881 he was stricken with
paralysis, which deprived him both 01 his speech and of the use of his
limbs and compelled him to go to Europe for special treatment. His
health became comparatively restored, but the loss of power in his
limbs and the difficulty of speech still remained. Under the circum-
stances he felt that he must resign the episcopal office, which he did
in the autumn of 1883.

In 1886 he returned to the United States with his family and
began what was the most remarkable period of his career. He
determined to continue his work of the translation of the Bible.

6l6 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

He was unable to speak clearly enough to be understood by a
Chinese scribe, even had such help been procurable, but he went to
work by means of a typewriter, which he could only operate with
one finger on account of his infirmity, to revise his translation of the
Old Testament. Working as has ever been his custom eight hours
a day he was able to finish this in a year. Then began the greater
work of making a complete translation of the Bible into easy Wen-li.
The work occupied him seven years, and was necessarily done in
romanised text, which was afterwards written out in China into
Chinese character. The wofk was done from the original Hebrew
and Greek, and was finally published in 1902 by the American Bible
Society. In 1895 the Bishop came back to Shanghai to carry out his
work of transferring the romanised text of his translation into the
character, and lived there for about two years. He then moved to
Japan, where the work was being printed, for greater convenience
in proof-reading and correction of the text. Ever since he has gone
on steadily with his work by the help of two scribes, the one a
Chinese and the other a Japanese. The Wen-li translation pub-
lished, he revised his mandarin translation and then undertook the
preparation of a Reference Bible for the American Bible Society.
Of late he has been engaged upon a translation of the Apocrypha,
which his death left unfinished. Besides the work which the Bishop
did in Chinese he had, while in Peking, partly finished a diction-
ary of the Mongolian language.

Bishop Schereschewsky was a scholar and a born linguist, and
he steadily perfected himself for the work of translation by the
most exact and laborious study. Hebrew was his by his birth and
the classical tongues by his later education, and on coming to China
he went further in his researches into oriental languages, above all
devoting himself to Chinese, in which he was a master. One may
say that with him we have bid farewell to the old type of missionary
scholar, the man who lived for and in the Chinese language and
literature, men like Legge and Faber and Edkins, who gave them-
selves to this one pursuit, and to whom classical Chinese was an ideal.

The thing which lies on the very surface of this long life of
Bishop Schereschewsky is its entire simplicity. He had literally
one object, to make plain the Word of God to the Chinese. All his
study and effort, the laborious acquisition of many tongues and of
much learning was strictly devoted and consecrated to this end. For
year after year he worked alone, in health and in sickness, crippled
for the long space of twenty-five years in a way which would have
kept back most men from any work at all, unknown to the world
outside his study and the few friends who understood and apprecia-
ted the greatness of his purpose. Day by day, without rest or
intermission, he toiled on, doing this one thing and doing it as well
as he could. There is a deep sense of mission, of being set apart
to do this task in such a life as he lived. He was a born translator.
If his duties as Bishop were accepted because he felt that it was a
duty that was laid upon him, still his work as translator of the
Bible was foremost in his thought, and not even the weakened body
could keep back the strong, clear, well-furnished mind from the
work it had set itself. The lessons of faith, and patience, and a
single clear aim in life are plain for us all.

1906.] In Memoriam. 617

He was a man also of large ideas. This was partly so because
he lived in the scholar's atmosphere, in communion wuth the great in
literature, but in. the practical field also he showed this quality.
The first work of his short episcopate was to found St. John's
College and St. Mary's Hall, with clear foresight of the part which
Christian education had to play in the regeneration of China. In
intercourse with him you were always conscious of a certain wideness
of view coupled with the fact of his intense concentration on the
great work of his life, his Chinese Bible.

He always faced death with calmness and would often speak
quietly of its approach, only expressing the wish that he might
be spared to finish the task which he had set before him. In
the providence of God this was granted to him. It was character-
istic that when death came he met it seated in his chair, the chair
in which he had worked so long, and met his end fearlessly and in
the confidence of a certain faith.

3n fRemoriani.

MRS. ROBERT CASE BEEBE.

On the eighth of July, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, after a linger-
ing illness of nearly two years' duration, there passed to the Home
beyond this estimable woman, faithful wife and mother, constant
friend and earnest missionary.

Harriet Linn was born in Ohio, of earnest, Christian parents.
Her father was a physician. She received her education at Alle-
gheny College, graduating from that institution with high honors.
So highly did the authorities of her alma mater value her abilities
and character, that they selected her, from among many, to become
the first preceptress of their institution. President Crawford at her
funeral service said : * ' Coming to the service of the college ten years
after she left it, I found her influence still present and the name of
Harriet Linn Beebe spoken with regard and affection."

In 1884 she came with her husband. Dr. Robert C. Beebe, to
China and to Nanking. This city was then practically unoccupied
by missionaries ; the China Inland and the Presbyterian Missions
having had but a precarious foothold prior to this time. So that
the changes that Mrs. Beebe saw in this city during the time of her
missionary life were very great. From the first she made many
friends among the women of the city — those that were at that time
accessible. And w^hen the news of her death reached here there
were sincere mourners among thesef to many of whom she had been
a Dorcas.

In character Mrs. Beebe impressed one with her hopefulness
and her broad vision. She seemed never to be pessimistic or
despondent. She did not look on the dark side of things unless it
was the better to remedy some difficulty or find a way out. All of
her associates in missionary circles regarded her as a trusty friend
and a wise counselor. In regard to her Christian life, President
Crawford said of her : * * At the time of her conversion she gave

618 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

herself to God once and for all. vShe never thought of taking back
the offering. Whatever else might be true or not true she never
doubted her faith in God. Her life was marked by unusual devo-
tion. She saw all things in relation to the object of her highest
devotion — God. In Him she lived and moved. Her devotion to
husband and children was richer because of her noble devotion to
God. Her devotion to the church of her choice, and to the work of
Christ in the world, was because of her devotion to Him who, with
pierced hands, lifted empires off their hinges and turned the stream
of centuries out of its channel. Such quiet, simple, earnest devotion
to God, to home and to noble endeavor I have seldom witnessed."
Her spirit was well expressed by the hymn she loved most,

•' M)' times are in thy hand :
My God, I wish them there ;
My life, my friends, my soul, I leave
Entirely to thy care."

** Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord : Even so, saith the
Spirit ; for they rest from their labors ; and their works do follow
them."

G. A. S.

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,
Conducted in the interests of the *' Educational Association of China.'

Educational Association for Fukien Province.

AGENERAIy meeting of the Educational Association for
Fukien Province was held in the church at Ku-liang on
August 2oth, 1906, at 9.30 a.m. The president, Rev.
Geo. S. Miner, was in the chair. After devotional exercises the
minutes of the meeting in 1905 and the treasurer's accounts
for the past year were read.

Twenty-seven persons present then indicated their desire to
become members of the Association, and were enrolled as such.
(The total membership now numbers 94 names.) Questions
concerning the organization of the Association, whether it
should continue to include the whole province or only part of it,
were referred to the Executive Committee to be elected at this
meeting. A committee to nominate the officers for the ensuing
year was appointed.

1906.] Educational Department. 619

Out of the reading of the minutes there arose a discussion
of the relation between missionary and government schools and
co-operation of missionaries with the government officials in
their educational scheme. Revs. White, Williams, Jones, and
Warnshuis took part in this discussion, referring for the most
part to what they had been able to do along these lines during
the past year.

The report of the Committee on Day-schools, appointed last
year, was read by the chairman, Rev. Lewis Hodous. Follow-
ing the reading of this report the discussion of its recommenda-
tions was opened by Revs. Beard and White.

It was then moved that the next meeting of the Association
be held the next morning at 9.30 o'clock to continue this
discussion.

The Committee on Nominations then reported as follows : —

For President Rev. F. E. Bland.

,, Vice-President - - - - Miss Bonafield.

,, Secretary-Treasurer - - . Rev. A. L. Warnshuis.

,, Members of Executive Committee Rev. L. Hodous and Miss Lambert,

The report was adopted and these officers declared elected.
The meeting then adjourned.

SECOND DAY.

The meeting was again in Ku-liang church, according to
adjournment of the previous day. After devotional exercises,
the minutes of the session of the day before were read and
approved.

The Executive Committee reported regarding the organiza-
tion of the Association, recommending that it continue to
include the whole province. These recommendations were
amended and then adopted as follows : * ' That the Executive
Committee consist of a President, Vice-President, and Secretary-
Treasurer, and one member from each of the Missions laboring
in the province, namely, American Board, M. E. M. (Foochow),
M. E. M. (Hinghua), C. M. S., Q E. Z. M. S., L. M. S., E. P.
M., A. R. C, and Y. M. C. A.

The motion was made and carried that each mission should
be asked to elect its own representative on the Executive
Committee.

The Executive Committee further recommended that the
Association instruct the secretary to issue an annual, or if
possible a semi-annual, Journal of the Association, to include

620 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

the reports of its committees and all items and questions of
interest to the educationists in the province. The recommenda-
tion was adopted.

The Executive Committee further recommended that a
committee be appointed to consider the problems connected
with boarding-schools, both boys' and girls', and report on these
next year ; and they nominated the following to be that com-
mittee : — Rev. A. S. M. Anderson, Chairman ; Miss Lambert,
Miss Bonafield, Miss M. E. Talmage, Miss E. J. Newton, Rev.
E. H. Smith, Rev. U. R. Jones, Mr. T. Woods. These recom-
mendations were adopted.

The same committee also recommended that a Committee
on Government Relations be appointed, to be ready to advise
individual missionaries in the province regarding such questions,
and, should occasion arise, to discuss these questions with the
Provincial Authorities. As such committee, they nominated
Rev. W. L. Beard, Rev. Wm. C. White, Rev. P. W. Pitcher,
Miss Faithful- Davis. The recommendation with the nomina-
tions was adopted.

The recommendations of the Committee on the Day-schools
were then discussed, amended, and adopted seriatim. They are
as follows: —

** I. That as far as possible we put our schools into well-
aired, well-lighted, clean places, with two or more rooms and a
playground.

**2. That we furnish our schools with maps, charts,
desks, etc.

* ' 3* (^) That the secular part of the curriculum of our
day-schools be enlarged and made equal to that of the govern-
ment schools of the same grade, (b) That as far as possible the
pupils be taught in classes.

* * 4. That a closer connection be established between our
higher schools and the day-schools.

* * 5. That present conditions urgently demand that missions
co-operate in securing specialists to take charge of normal
training of day-school teachers. ' '

The motion was made and carried that the Executive
Committee appoint a committee to arrange for the preparation
of a map of Fukien Province to be used in our schools.

The ** Question Box'' was opened, and the questions were
answered by various persons. Among them the following
series of questions was referred to the Executive Committee,

1906.] Educational Deparcment. 621

that one or two persons might be appointed to answer these
questions next year.

' ' Some Questions Relative to Educational Work concerning
Chinese Christian Character.

**I. Consider the average church member in comparison
with : —

a. A religious fellow-countryman. (What elements of
religious belief does he hold in common ?)

b. A good Confucianist. (What is the Christian's character
with regard to those virtues which are conspicuously lacking in
the former, viz., truthfulness, honesty, faithfulness, forgive-
ness, etc.?)

c. His fellow-Christian in Western lands.

d. His fellow-countryman in his home life. (How are his
home relations, family institutions, etc., affected by his faith?)

*'n. Consider the Christianity of the Chinese as affected
by their pre-Christian or national ideals. Have these qualities
which have hitherto been the stability and genius of this race
been retained in the presentation of Christian truth, e.g.,

a. Their reverence for authority. (Is the alleged indict-
ment against the present generation of western educated
Christian students, of headstrongness, im moderateness, irksome-
ness of restraint, etc., merited ?)

b. Their splendid conception of the unity of the race, with
its realization that it is the sum of all the past and its high
sense of responsibility to the future.

c. Their virtues of perseverance, patience, self-control.
(Is there any evidence that the strong influence of Westerners,
whose impatience in comparison with the Chinese is admitted,
and whose passion for speed and competition is rapidly being
communicated to this nation, has had any detrimental eiSfect on
these qualities ?)

d. Their combination of high literary attainments with
lowly social status and simplicit]^ of life. (Is there no reason
to fear that some of the artificialities of our civilization being
introduced, this commendable view may be destroyed ? The
student from our large foreign institutions, whether boy or girl,
already demands better food, clothing, and housing. Also
the very purpose of our educational work, which we say is to
produce character, seems almost obscured by the elaborateness
of and the stress we lay upon these externalities.)

622 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

**III. The attitude of missionaries towards these and
kindred Chinese ideas. (Should we try to give scope for their
expression and embodiment and be careful not to dominate too
much the thought of our Chinese brethren, that they may realize
their own spiritual consciousness ? Is there any use in trying
to reproduce any foreign type of Christian among these people,
the content of whose mind and heart is so diverse from those
who have introduced Christianity to them ?) '*

It was moved and carried that the recommendations of the
Committee on Day-schools should be sent by the secretary to
the secretary of each Mission in the province.

It was also moved and seconded that the secretary should
send a copy of the minutes with the recommendation of the
Committee on Day-schools to the Chinese Recorder for
publication.

The minutes were read and approved, and the meeting
then adjourned.

executive committee meeting.

On August 22nd the Executive Committee met and
appointed Rev. Lewis Hodous as the committee to arrange for
the preparation of a map of Fukien Province.

They also resolved that the questions concerning education
and Chinese Christian character should be referred to Rev.
J. E. Walker, D.D., and Rev. F. E. Bland for reply.

It was also resolved that the ** Journal'^ to be published
should contain an English translation of the government cur-
ricula for primary, grammar, and middle schools.

A. L. Warnshuis,

Secretary,

More about Military Training.

IN the July issue of the Recorder an article appeared in
this department in defence of military education in mission
schools. This article was recently subjected to a thorough-
going critricism in a leading editorial in the Sha7ighai Mercury
(September 29) ; the writer taking the position that militarism
in any form is inconsistent with Christianity and that con-
sistency demands that mission schools refrain entirely from
military training. As the editorial challenges reply we do not

1906.] Educational Department. 623

like to let the other side of the case go by default wheu there
is something to be said in its defence.

But let us concede first that the position that Christianity
is absolutely and unalterably irreconcilable with war in any
form is a very strong one. Certain of the teachings of the
New Testament are direct prohibitions of personal violence and
are clearly applicable to the spirit of warfare. No sincere
follower of our Lord wishes to diminish their significance or
do aught to weaken the attitude that Christianity takes before
the world as a preacher of the Gospel of Peace. War has, even
of late years, been all too prevalent in the world, and the
warlike spirit is too strong to-day. It is one of the most dis-
couraging things imaginable that even now with the path lying
clear before us leading to a better state of affairs we are so
slow in following it.

But yet military service is a reality in the world and war
is an ever-present contingency, and the sincere Christian, if he
is not going to accept the doctrine of non-resistance, must be
prepared to give a reasonable answer to those who charge him
with inconsistency to his religion.

The defence, then, of the possibility of righteous warfare
lies in the fact that certain Christian duties are at times mutually
exclusive, so that we must choose which of them have the most
imperative claim on our obedience. For example, there may
be a conflict between benevolence and the need of discipline in
our social relationships, as we see if we contrast the texts:
"Give to every man that asketh of thee," * and *' We com-
manded you that if any will not work, neither should he eat.^f
So likewise with the duties of living in peace with all men
and of enforcing justice and order, which latter is recognised
in the New Testament as a prerogative and duty of the state;
so that through our allegiance to the state we may find it
necessary to perform acts which are forbidden to us in a private
capacity.

Holding such views as these«we can defend ourselves from
a charge of inconsistency. But w^hen we turn to the editorial of
the Mercury we find that the writer assumes too much. He
refers to ''the well-known grounds on which the Society of
Friends has always avoided the very appearance of militarism,
grounds which we believe are held to be theoretically good by

* Luke vi. 30.
t II Thess iii. 10.

624 The Chinese Recorder. [November,

the vast majority of Christian believers.'* On the basis of that
presupposition the article is written and the attack directed
against the previous writer in this department.

But as a matter of fact it would probably be truer to say
that the majority of Christian believers take the other position
and would assert the possibility of warfare becoming the
paramount duty of a nation, superseding the claims of all other
obligations. Such being the case, the greater part of the argu-
ment of our opponent falls to the ground, and the missionary
may feel himself free to impart to the Chinese the same
principles of government and civilization that he learned in his
own home.

The argument depends, as was pointed out above, upon oui
theory of the nature and functions of the state. Now the state,
although natural in its origin, like the family, receives in the
Bible a divine sanction, and is recognized as a part of God's
method in the disciplining and training of mankind. *' Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's," is not a
grudging concession of a temporary right of taxation, but the
requirement of a full and free submission to, and support of, the
machinery of government ; and this is the attitude adopted
throughout the whole of the Bible.

The chief function of the state, as is well known, is to
protect the welfare and safety of its citizens, and in doing this it
has power in both criminal and civil cases to do what the
individual may not do, to punish evil and enforce justice.
Moreover, as the state may protect itself against violence from
within, so it may protect itself against violence from without.
The state is more than the sum of individuals composing it, and
it has rights and powers greater than any individual or group of
individuals within it. It is the repository of justice and equity,
and as between state and state there is on earth no power to
adjudicate, so each state, avowing its responsibility toward God,
must undertake the task of obtaining justice for its members
and of protecting them in life, liberty, and honor.

Such, as we understand them, are the principles upon
which Christian civilization is based, and which we seriously
and sincerely feel reflect the spirit of the New Testament. If
we can bring to China a self-consciousness in its national life
and a readiness to undertake the responsibilities which statehood
means we feel that we shall have accomplished a part of our
mission here.

1906.J

Correspondence.

625

Correspondence.

AN INQUIRY.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder.'*

Dear Sir : Do you know of any
good translation of Luther's
"Ein feste Burg is unser Gott "?
and if so, would you kindly have
it inserted in the Recorder
for the benefit of our Chinese
churches?

I am, yours truly,

A. B.

WORK FOR THE CHINESE BI«IND.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In connection with
the Conference next year it is
very desirable that there should
be a meeting of those who are
specially interested in the blind.
Will missionaries who are teach-
ing the blind, or who have made
any experiments in this direction,
please communicate with the
undersigned or with Mr. W.
Entwistle, Wesleyan Mission,
Hankow?

Yours truly,

G. H. BONDFIELD.

British and Foreign Bible Society,
Shanghai, October 26th, 1906.

CHINESE TITLE FOR C. M. M. A.

To the Editor of

*'The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : At the previous
meeting of the Central China
Medical Missionary Association
we found some difficulty in
choosing a satisfactory Chinese

title for our Association to print
on our publications.

Correspondence had revealed
the fact that no Chinese title
existed, even for the China Med-
ical Missionary Association !

I was therefore instructed to
write to the Recorder, through
you, and request ** that a com-
mittee be now formed to choose a
permanent title for the C. M. M.
A. and report to the general
Medical Conference of next
year." I have written a similar
letter to the editor of the China
Medical Missionary Jotir^iaL

I am.

Faithfully yours,
W. Arthur Tatchell,

Hon. Secretary.
Wesleyan Mission Hospital,
Hankow.

FEDERATION AT RULING.
To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."
Dear Sir : All who have the
closer federation of the various
churches in China at heart (are
there any who have not ? ) will
be interested in knowing what
was done at Kuling during the
past summer towards its con-
summation. There was no gen-
eral meeting on the subject, but
there was a meeting of the
Kuling Section of the Divisional
Committee on Federation held in
the church August 13th. Bishop
Roots was chairman, and there
were representatives from the
following bodies : American So-
cieties : Presbyterian, North and
South, Methodist (North), Epis-
copal, Disciples, Ad ventist. British
Societies : I^ondon, Wesleyan,

626

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

Church of Scotland. The special
object of the • meeting was to
elect delegates to the Representa-
tive Council to meet in Peking.
According to the scheme of
representation suggested in the
paper sent out by Dr. Cochrane
from Peking, the Kuling Section
was entitled to five foreign and
five Chinese representatives.
This gave rise to considerable
discussion as to the advisability
of electing Chinese delegates.
It was finally resolved by un-
animous vote that this should be
the policy adopted. The five
foreign delegates chosen were
as follows : Bishop Roots, Revs.
W. H. Watson, T. R. Kearney,
A. Foster and Spencer Lewis.
As there w^ere no Chinese known
personally to all present, these
representatives w^ere chosen after
nomination by some foreigner
with a statement of the qualifica-
tions of the nominee for filling
this responsible office. The
question then arose as to how
the measures that should after^
w^ard be adopted by the Repre-
sentative Council should be
brought before the Centenary
Conference in Shanghai, and in
view of the fact that there is a
committee on this very subject
to report to the Centenary Con-
ference, it was recommended that
whatever measures the Repre-
sentative Council should adopt,
they should bring them before the
Centenary Conference through
the regularly constituted com-
mittee, The meeting through-
out was harmonious, and it was
felt that a real step forward had
been taken towards the realiza-
tion of this great end.

Yours truly,

M. B. Grikr,

Secretary for the Meeting.

Hsiichoufu, vi^ Chinkiang, China,

"union and the home

BOARDS."

To the Editor oj

**The Chinese Recorder.'*

Dear Sir : It was my privilege
recently to read the Report of
the Annual Meeting of the
Secretaries of American and
Canadian Missionary Societies,
held at Nashville. Among much
of interest to all missionaries
there was a paper read on the
proposed Church Union in Korea,
and this was followed by a frank
discussion. The writer of the
paper was Dr. S. H. Chester (a
Presbyterian secretary), and the
tone and spirit of his address
was on the whole sane and friend-
ly, while subsequent speakers
rejoiced in this latest manifesta-
tion of the world-wide movement
towards the re-union of Chris-
tendom which is such a significant
feature of our day. As to the
actual proposals before them, the
secretaries naturally spoke with
some hesitation and caution, for
the official mind does not readily
admit new ideas, nor hastily
commit itself to definite forward
movements of this nature.

It will be remembered that the
Conference of Missionaries and
Korean Christians at Seoul was
led to send home the following
unanimous resolution : " That the
time is ripe for the establishment

of ONE KOREAN PROTESTANT

CHURCH to be called the Church
of Christ in Korea."

Secretary Chester, while gene-
rall}' sympathetic, made the fol-
lowing astounding remark near
the close of his paper : — * ' We
would not throw any cold water
on the zeal of our Korean
brethren for Church Union. Per-
haps the Pentecostal atmosphere
in which they have been living
naturally causes them to look at

1906.]

Correspondence.

627

things rather from the stand-
point of the ideal than of the
practical," etc.

It is a relief to find that one of
the assembled secretaries had
the courage to challenge this
extraordinary and perverted bit
of reasoning. J. W. Conklin
(secretary Reformed Church in
America) said: "I enjoyed
the paper that Dr. Chester
brought before us, but there was
one remark which I would per-
haps question, that the at-
mosphere in Korea had been so
Pentecostal that the churches might
be led to 7novements 7iot practicable.
I raise the question whether the
atmosphere with us is not so un-
pentecostal that our movements
are too extremely practical. The
Pentecostal spirit is the spirit to
trust 171. The Holy Spirit move-
ment is the one that we can trust
for guidance, and as I look at
the creed that has been adopted
by the Presbyterian churches of
India and at the creed that has
just been proposed by the Con-
gregationalists, Methodist Pro-
testants and Disciples in this
country and see how the non-
essentials are buried out of sight,
I believe ice ought not to hold
back these native Christiayis as
they want to get together. It is
a7i i7istinct i7i the face of heatheji-
is7n. They wa7it to act solidly
together, a7id we onght to say to
the7)i ' God speed you.' "

Wise, true and noble words,
showing that if in this vital
matter of a united church in the
face of idolatry and superstition
we have to lead and set pace to
the good people at home, yet we
may be sure of the hearty sup-
port of many of the friends of
missions. I ask your readers to
ponder Mr. Conklin' s utterance.
Surely, if we have eyes to see
and ears to hear, the Spirit of
Christ in these days is leading

the church into a closer and
more visible union, a7id if
His Spirit leads, all 7ieeded
wisdom also will be gra7ited to
g2iide step by step in practical
^natters and to remove out of
the way those obstacles and
difficulties which bulk so large-
ly in our view. The great
thing is to humbly seek the
mind of Christ, as, for instance,
revealed in His great intercessory
prayer. With God all things are
possible (even the union on
earth of that church which we
all believe will be one for ever in
heaven). To make sure that we
are in active co-operation with
the divine purpose in our own
time is the duty and privilege of
every member of Christ's body.

Yours sincerely,

E. W. Burt.

Weihsien.

THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHINA.
A PROTEST.

To the Editor of

*• The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : In your August issue,
under the heading "Progressive
Presbyterian Union in Central
China," Mr. Hudson supplies us
with this (to me) extraordinary
paragraph, marked Article IV
in the Synod of the Five Pro-
vinces : " This Synod now adopts
the church standards previously
used, namely, the existing trans-
lations into Chinese of the Confes-
sion of Faith, the Larger and
Shorter Catechisms, the Form of
Government, and the like books
(i.e., discipline, worship, etc.)."
Now these symbols are excel-
lent, and with the interpretation
put upon them by modern Pres-
byterianism, I have long ago
subscribed to their teaching, but
I am amazed to find that the

628

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

missionaries of five provinces
think it is a mark of " progress "
to ask the Chinese church at
this stage of her career to adopt
these books as her standards.
Foreign missionaries have no
right to make China the dump-
ing ground for all the vagaries of
occidentalism. I know thousands
of Chinese Christians belonging to
the Presbyterian church, amongst
them some elders, who have
never even heard of these books,
and I know almost fifty elders
w^ho have never been asked to
subscribe to them, and yet they
have been invited to enter into
corporate union with these very
churches of the * Five Provinces, '
upon whom is being fastened
formularies which I am sure
the}^ do not quite understand
and which if left to themselves
they w^ould not now^ adopt. In the
name of spiritual liberty, and of
a youth which has a great future
before it, I protest against David
being decked out in Saul's ar-
mour. I hold in high honour
these noble symbols, but I object
to their being brought into Chi-
7iese Church Courts until such
times as the Chinese are in a
position to choose for themselves.
But my objection covers much
larger ground than this. For-
eign missionaries are quite right
in holding on to the old moor-
ings so long as they feel them
safe, and no one can object to
their adopting a?no7igst theviselves
any standards they please, but it
is quite a different thing when
their action involves the faith of
thousands of Chinese who ought
to be left to see spiritual truth
through their own eyes. Union
is everywhere in the air, and in
ten years at the very most I
should like to see one great
United Church of China, but I feel
strongly that some of our well-
meant efforts towards union are

putting off the hour of its con-
summation instead of bringing it
nearer. Churches of the same
ecclesiastical order are exhorted to
unite not only for mutual
strength, but also in order thereby
to prepare the way for union
with other churches of a differ-
ent polity. Now this to my
mind is exactly where we are
making a mistake, and the action
of the ** Synod of the Five Pro-
vinces" to which I have drawn
attention, proves my point. All
the churches of the same eccle-
siastical order unite, but by their
adopting certain ready-made
doctrinal formularies of the West
as the basis of that union they
erect barriers around themselves
which, so far as the Chinese are
concerned, practicalh^ did 7iot
exist before iinioii, and therefore
the path towards union with other
churches which have a different
ecclesiastical order is made much
more difficult than before the so-
called union took place. If there is
to be any discussion about creeds
and church polity let it be done
amongst the foreigners them-
selves. We have no right to
prejudice the minds of our Chi-
nese fellow-Christians by asking
them to join us in Presbytery or
Synod or Assembly on the basis
of certain symbols which, if left to
themselves, they would not now
adopt. To our shame be it said
the barriers to complete union
throughout all China are the
creation of the foreigners only.
The whole native Christian com-
munity of China would unite
to-morrow if left to themselves,
for, thank God, they practically
know nothing about our petty
notions of ecclesiastical order
and minutiae of doctrine. To
them God's presence is wider
than our broadest creeds and
His temple bigger far than our
grandest sanctuaries and His

1906.J

Correspondence.

629

I

love larger than our highest
laws. Why then should we for-
eigners commit the folly of drag-
ging the Chinese churches at
our heels and narrowing their
vision to the limits of our own
and perpetuating amongst them
the petty little differences of
ecclesiastical polity that make
the mother churches of the West
so ridiculous ? No missionary
is worth his salt who cannot get
himself out of the corner in
w^hich he was brought up and
learn to see the crime of teach-
ing his Chinese fellow-Christians
the Shibboleths of party.

Presbyter.

PROTESTANT FEDERATION
AGAINST FRESH DAN-
GER IN CHINA.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : There are now over
fifty different missionary socie-
ties at work here. It is utterly
impracticable that the heads of
these fifty societies should all
have access to the highest Mi-
nisters of State. A crowd cannot
transact business. There must
be chosen representatives.

There are a dozen missionary
societies, or more, working in
several of the provinces. To
have the head of each mission,
however small and however in-
experienced in China, confer
with the governor or viceroy
who rules fifty millions, on terms
of equality, democratic or ecclesi-
astical, is simply absurd and
fraught with gravest dangers to
all.

The missionary associations
of China have shown real wisdom
in the selection of wise, experi-
enced men to represent them
locally. They wisely hold in
theory that the united cause of

Christian missions is of far
greater importance than the in-
terest of any one denomination
or nationality.

It seems to me that what is
wanted now is the extension
of these missionary association
theories and principles into the
region of practical work for the
good of all in city, province and
empire.

In view, therefore, of the recent
recrudescence of anti-foreign
feeling in China, in view of the
great desire of both foreign and
Chinese authorities to have some
responsible representatives to
deal with, and in view of the im-
portant question of the improved
federation of the Protestant
churches in China raised in a
circular issued by the Peking As-
sociation several months ago, the
following plan of procedure is
suggested : —

1. That the Protestant mis-
sionaries in each province elect a
provincial council of three to
five missionaries each, as far as
possible, of not lej-s than ten
years' experience in China, to
represent the missionaries in all
matters affecting Christian mis-
sionaries in the province before
the high provincial authorities,
such as the viceroy, governor,
treasurer and judge, but not
necessarily resident in the pro-
vincial capital, though desirable.

2. That the provincial coun-
cils of all the provinces of China
shall elect from amongst their
number a national council of
five to seven missionaries, each
of not less than fifteen years'
experience in China, to represent
them in all matters affecting
Christian missionaries before the
central government in Peking,
but not all necessarily resident
in Peking, though desirable.

3. That the native Protestant
Christians shall also elect a pro-

630

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

vincial advisory council of three
well educated native Christians,
each of not less than ten 5'ears'
standing in the church, to repre-
sent them before the missionary
provincial council, who shall
never take any important official
action with the Chinese authori-
ties without first consulting this
native advisory council.

4. That the native provincial
councils of all the provinces of
China shall elect from among
their number a national advisory
council of five members, each
member of not less than fifteen
years' standing in the church, to
represent them before the mis-
sionary national council, who
shall never take any important
official action without first con-
sulting the native national coun-
cil.

5. That both the foreign and
native councils should elect men
who are not only loyal to the
Christian faith but also accept-
able to the Chinese authorities
so as to reduce friction to a
minimum and increase friendship
and goodwill as much as possi-
ble.

NcT-E. — I. In this early stage
of Christian missions in China,
when so few of the educated and
intelligent of the Chinese have
joined the Christian church, the
missionaries must be regarded as
the chief authorities in regulating
church matters, but when the
leading men in China enter the

Christian Church, as the leaders
of other nations have done, then
there will be no need of the mis-
sionaries continuing the chief
control. A rather large number
is mentioned for each council
because some of the missionaries
will be away and it is always
important to have a sufficient
number who are acquainted with
precedents, and precedents are an
immense security against false
steps.

Note. — 2. Will not each Mis-
sionary Society bring this matter
up before his mission at their
first Mi.ssionary Conference as
owing to the late violence of the
government we may need such a
2iniied organization for the safety
of our lives again sooner than
most people think.

Forewarned !

Written in 1903.

P. S. Absence and other causes
prevented the publication of this
three years ago, but the boycotting
and the massacres since justify
the fears then. Probably we are
in greater danger now than then.
There is no harm in doing our
utmost to avoid dangers. Some
of the friendly officials are hoping
that representative men should
be chosen to meet them. Others
are taking an inventory of mis-
sion propert}^ in case of future
riots and indemnity. This is
ominous.

Our Book Table.

The Service of Missions to Science
and Society. By W. W. Keen,
M.D.,LL.D. Amerian Baptist Mis-
sion Union, Boston. Ten cents.

This address was delivered at
the anniversary meetings held
last May, and vShows in a
scholarly manner the large part

Christian missions have had, not
only in the work of evangeliza-
tion, but also in the development
of literary, scientific and sociolog-
ical studies. Whilst the chief
function of the missionary is the
teaching of the Gospel, the cir-
cumstances of his environment

1906.]

Our Book Table.

631

so bring him into contact with
ignorance and disease that he is
led to participate in educational
and medical work. The necessi-
ty for recreation on the part of
such men and women of activity
and education leads to pursuits,
the results of which, while great
in themselves, may well come
under the common class of " by-
products."

We understand that there are
frequent enquiries from all parts
of the empire with regard to the
methods of church government
in the Amoy district. Our
readers will no doubt be glad to
see that a copy of the Rules
adopted by the Amoy Synod can
be obtained for ten cents on
application to the Rev. A. L.
Warnshuis, Reformed Church
Mission, Amoy.

'M '^ P" ^Jl- ^o Mandarin, compiled
by Chen Cliun-sheng. Printed with
Christian morals, with Introduc-
tion by Rev. S. I. Woodbridge.
Shanghai : Presbyterian Mission
Press. Price 20 cents.

Mr. Chen Chun-sheng has
presented me with a copy of his
booklet, *' Eastern ^sop's Fa-
bles." I have not only enjoyed
reading it, but have also found
it a most excellent and instruct-
ive book for the study of the
Mandarin dialect.

It is rich in terse and idiomatic
expressions, made easy to re-
member by the interesting fables
in which they are used.

Tt is also a very valuable help
to the . preacher in furnishing
him with a good supply of illus-
trations peculiarly adapted to
the Chinese mind.

It gives me great pleasure to
recommend most heartily this
booklet to all who are interested

in the study of the Chinese mind
and language.

I also congratulate Mr. Chen
upon his success in inaking his
language so interesting and so
easy that it will be a pleasure to
all wdio use his book to study the
Chinese language.

R. T. Bryan.

Southern Baptist Mission,
Shanghai.

The Christian Movement in Japan.
Fourth Annual Issue, 1906. Method-
ist Publishing House, Tokio. Pub-
lished for the Standing Committee
of Co-oj)erating Christian Missions.

This annual is one of the most
w^elcome contributions to our
Book-table, and proves a very
mine of information. It is an
incentive to concerted work, on
more economical and effective
lines than would otherwise be
possible. In the general survey
there is reference to political and
foreign affairs, to domestic affairs
and the business world. The
growth of the export trade illus-
trates the increasing efficiency of
the nation. It is obvious that
all classes of people are animated
by a strong desire to apply to
commerce and industry the in-
telligence and energy which
made Army and Navj^ so con-
spicuously successful during the
late war. It is to be hoped that
in missionary effort there will be
a like desire for efficient develop-
ment. We read that "in con-
versation with men of affairs it
is at once made clear that they
are thinking in large numbers
and are forming plans on a larger
scale than ever before. All
classes face the future with a
spirit of expectancy." If this is
true of the Japanese how much
more true may it be of awakening
China, where the problems are
so great and the issues so far-
reaching.

632

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

The Rev. A. Pieters supplies
a lengthy account of the educa-
tional system of Japan, based
upon official reports ; and elee-
mosynary and public work re-
ceive due attention. Under the
department of churches and
missions possibly the most inter-
esting feature is the account of
the independence movement.
This and other matters we hope
to refer to later in our other
departments. |^^

Christian Missions and Social Prog-
ress, Vol. III. Rev. James S.
Dennis, D.D. Fleming H. Revell
Company. 1906. I2.50 gold, net.

The two previous volumes of
Professor Dennis, issued some
years ago, find a worthy com-
pletion in the present invaluable
volume. A preliminary glance
within its pages is likely to be
prolonged, if only for the fine
array of illustrations — about 150
in number — which detain the
eye everywhere. And what the
British might call a "royal
salute" is fired off at the outset
in a frontispiece of twenty-one
portraits, including those of
Robert Morrison, W. H. Med-
hurst, James Legge, Wells
Williams, W. A. P. Martin,
Griffith John, Timothy Richard,
and Arthur H. Smith, as ** re-
presentative missionaries who
have helped both Church and
State."

The text is concerned with
the doings of sixty-nine mission-
ary societies in all lands, or
rather "the one and the same
Spirit ' ' who worketh in all. The
motto lines on the title-page
contain the words :

. . . the world is gray
With morning light.

Every page reveals a dawn which
s more golden than gray, and
uch a dawn as to set those

hearts singing which have pre-
viously known the privilege of
entering into the sorrow of their
Lord. A poem on the title-page :
and throughout the book, the
* workmanship ' — poiema or poem
— of the infinite Poet whose
work upon the moral chaos of
heathendom has indeed begun,
and whose omnipotence is pledg-
ed to carry it through.

The more than careful work —
the * painful ' work as the old
phrase goes — of Professor Dennis
has revealed this sum- total in
an array of facts, so den.se in
their accumulation that the
reader can only deal with the
book a chapter at a time, and
then will find the mental exercise
a strenuous climb. The patient
research (for even the more ob-
scure denominational literature
has been ransacked), with
copious indices of names, sub-
jects, and books, make the work
a marvel of up-to-date erudition
and (as far as any human work
can be) of accuracy also.

Not a few readers of the
Chinese Recorder will find
their names therein ; some, per-
haps, to their surprise. And
those who will not ; those noble
toilers in the shade, whose deeds
are enshrined in the records
of eternity, will feel that the
Marred Visage, smiling from its
pages, inspires them more and
more as they read the volume,
to * ' share the travail that makes
the kingdom come." Professor
Dennis' book will be a means of
grace indeed to all its readers.

W. A. C.

The East of Asia. June, 1906. Vol.
5. Part 2 : N.-C Herald Office.

This issue of the beautifully
illu.strated quarterly is specially
interesting. For one thing, it
begins with something unique.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

633

We think of a headland as a bold
promontory running into the sea ;
and in this first article on Chinese
Gardens of Unnatural History,
Professor I. T. Headland cer-
tainly runs boldly into the seas
of imagination and literature.
With the coloured illustrations
we are introduced to some re-
markable people — Liliputians,
nine inches high, and a doll-like
mother carrying her infant of
less than three inches in length.
Then a gatekeeper fifty feet high,
whose foot-prints measure six
feet from toe to heel, who is said
to have lived to the advanced
age of 1, 800 years. The pictures
of one-eyed individuals, long-
legged, long-armed, or headless,
as well as gentlemen who possess
but a right arm and left leg,
and other specimens of natural
history make us wonder if Dr.
Headland has not been studying
the llj ^ g. That remarkable
production has many such wond-
rous objects of interest. There
was a tiger with eight men's
heads fringing his genial counten-
ance, a headless elephant with
six feet and four wings, a motor
car that "ought-to-mobile" on
account of its wonderful arrange-
ments for utilizing the wind.

The age of these two books
makes us jump the other articles
and come to Emma Inveen's
account of her visit to the Tomb
of Ta Yu. All living in this
part of the country ought to be
interested in the life work if not
in the last resting-place of the
man to whom is attributed the
present net work of canals so
characteristic of the plains of
China. We are interested to
note that two lads, met by the
author, are said to be lineal des-
cendants of the great Yu. As
they are supposed to be the sixty-
second generation, these Chinese
schoolboys should feel the weight

of dignity of such a long line of
ancestry, looking back over 4,000
years.

Following is a unique historical
study, Foreign Devils and Others,
by William Arthur Cornaby.
He has the happy faculty of put-
ting material extracted from prior
historical studies in very read-
able shape, and easily digested
form.

I^ooking through the remaining
pages we find a second instal-
ment of Archdeacon Moule's
thoughtful and valuable paper
on Ningpo under the T'ai-pings;
W. W. Lindsay speaks of New
China as a result of two months'
notes in the Yangtze Valley ; R.
A. Haden gives us the fourth
chapter of Chao Chuin ; George
T. Murray's Opinions on Chinese
Lives, An Appeal and a Protest,
unfortunately strikes a false
note, and shows lack of balance
and insight. We must not for-
get "the Chinese Hermit's"
second instalment of Gems of
Chinese Poetry, or Rev. G. H.
Bondfield's Visit to Kalgan and
a Trip into Mongolia. This last
mentioned article shows how the
strenuous representative of a
Bible vSociety with widespread
connections finds some of the re-
wards of his arduous under-
takings. Q^ M.

Journal of the North-China Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society. Volume
XXXVII, 1906. Kelly and Walsh,
Printers and Publishers, Shanghai.

, The Contents of this number
are : —

The Jewish Monument at Kaifung-
fu.

By Dr. W. A. P. Martin.

Ancient Thibet and its Frontagers.
By Thos. W. Kingsmill.

Notes on Chinese Banking System
in Shanghai.

By John C. Ferguson.

634

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

Notes on Chinese Law and Practice,
preceding Revision.

By Ernest Alabaster.

Chinese Children's Games.

By Isaac Taylor Headland.

with Notes, Queries, Notices of
recent Books on China, in which
there is some really entertaining
"Giles baiting" performed by
E. H. Parker, ar hi Memoriam
and a list of members. The first
article throws further light on
the condition of the Jews in
Honan, which is indeed lamenta-
ble. " No language," says Dr.
Martin, " can exaggerate the de-
cadence in which I found them.
Their demolished house was a
sad symbol of the congregation.
They confessed with shame that,
having become a ruin, it was
torn down by their own hands."
This was forty years ago. In
1906 Prof. Jenks, of the U. S.
Monetary Commission, visited
Kai-fung and secured rubbings
from the Jewish Tablet which
Dr. Martin has translated for
this number. The author con-
tinues, "Desperate as their con-
dition appeared to me in 1866,
their circumstances have certain-
ly not improved."

The second Article is valuable
only to the expert.

Notes on Chinese Banking
System in Shanghai exliibits
careful investigation into the
monetary labyrinth of polj^pecu-
niary conditions. Treasurers of
Missions would do well to read
this article with the utmost care.
"Notes on Chinese Law and
Practice " should have a wnder
circulation. Mr. Alabaster is an
apologist for the Chinese Code
which he shows plainly, is a
developrnent, The thoughtful
foreigner in China often w^onders
whether the laws of China do
not exactly suit the conditions of
the people and country. Ab-
sconding bank presidents, sharp
rascals who ' ' corner ' ' grain and

other artful dodgers are sum-
maril}' dealt with under sanction
of law. Is the hi terrorem tend-
ency of the Chinese Criminal
Code better than the i^i amor em ?
Would the bi-monthly flogging
of a condemned criminal be more
deterrent to the uncaged rapscal-
lion than bouquets and ice cream,
the sw^eet and fragrant outcome
of misguided, maudlin pity ?

" People talk glibly," says the
writer, " about a sudden change
in laws, without reflecting that
laws are themselves an exact
growth on cu.stom and usage.
Laws should be made for the
benefit of the people and polity
as a whole. ... To introduce a
new system is, so to speak, arti-
ficial and unnatural, and the re-
sult may be equal and not
apposite. If alteration is needed,
alter as circumstances first re-
quire in minor points . . . Begin,
by all means, by remedying such
points as kneeling — it is really
necessary to remedy — but reflect,
kneeling only dirties and creases
the trousers of those who clothe
in foreign garb and does not
hurt the horned knee of the pea-
sant in Yunnan. It is the
fashion now to talk of ' improve-
ments ' on We.stern lines, but
foreign modernities do not neces-
sarily mean either improvement
or regeneration or any other of
the catch phra.ses. ... A peaked
cap with a nice yellow border
does not necessarily mean an
'improved' brain, but, as a
rule, is a direct advertisement of
the Darwinian theory."

The Article on "Chinese
Children's Games" rounds up
the list, and is instructive and
fully up to the mark. Dr.
Headland proves conclusively to
our satisfaction that these boys
and girls in the East really do
have some fun.

S. ISETT WOODBRIDGE.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

635

^^mmWmXAf^m-n- A^lndergar-
/en Primer, No. i. By Wang Hang-
tong. Price 15 cents.

We have seen an advance copy
of this work and are highly in-
terested in this fresh illustration
of Mr. Wang Hang-tong's ver-
satility and endeavours to make
his fellow-countrymen wise in
the bes*^ sense from the tenderest
possible age. In the book spe-
cially prepared large Chinese
characters are used. There are
also a number of new pictures.
The whole is printed in four
different colours of paper, so
arranged as to give the book a
variegated appearance. There
are forty lessons, each lesson
occupying one page and contain-
ing only two characters. The
second half of each leaf indicates
the method of use of these char-
acters, thus : Page i has 5J ifi
with a picture, page 2 has Jl f
with Jt Jl and "^ Jjfc in large
characters.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

MacMillan and Company's Books.

The Foreign Trader's Dictionary of
Terms and Phrases in English,
German, French and Spanish.

Compiled by James Graham and
George A. S. Oliver. Price 3/6.

German Commercial Practice con-
nected with the Export and Import
Trade to and from Germany, the
German Colonies and the countries
where German is the recognised
language of commerce. By James
Graham and George A. S. Oliver.
Part II. Price 4/6.

Most valuable volumes to those
who have commercial transac-
tions with foreign countries.

Siepmann's Classical French Texts

Lettres Persanes par Montesquieu.
Adapted and edited by Eugene Pelis-
sier. Price 2/6.

The Rational Arithmetic, constructed
in accordance with the " Sugges-
tions" issued by the Board of Edu-
cation in 1905 and with the Code of
1906, by George Ricks, B.Sc. Loud.

Teacher's Book for First, Second and
Third year's courses. 8d. each.

Scholar's Book for First, Second and
Third year's courses. 3d. each.

These small volumes are the
outcome of more than thirty
years' experience as inspector of
schools, and in their preparation
arithmetic has been dealt with
rather as a reasoning process
than as an application of rules.

Editorial Comment.

The Naiifangpao of October

15th and 1 6th contains two

^t^i f very well-written

^ ^ * -»^ ^ articles on a re-
6reatc6t IRceD. ,. • r n\ -

ligion for China,

which are remarkable for their

outspoken candour and good

sense. The writer does not

hesitate to say, plainly, that

Christianity as the only religion

that will meet the demands of

China in this crisis of her

history. Whatever of good

there may be in Euddhism or
Taoism, they are a thing of
the past and will not answer
the present need. The very
•facts which some would urge
as objections against Christian-
ity, namely, the stringency of
its demands and the difficulty
of attainment, are the very
reasons which should lead to
its adoption. China needs
moral backbone, and here is
the way to secure it.

636

The Chinese Recorder,

[November,

Wk are pleased to note that
the same vein, of good sense

XTbe IRanfanspao's f^ ^ ^ ,^-5 ^.^
/tt^^x « the editori-

(3oot> Sense. , r j.-,-

als of this

paper in general, and while the
Editor maintains strongly
*' China for the Chinese, '^ he
would seek to maintain this on
honourable grounds and with
enlightened procedure. He
objects, and justly, to some of
the highhanded methods and
measures of foreigners and for-
eign nations, but seeks to
welcome what is good. He
rejoices in the Anti-opium
Edict, as well as that against
foot-binding, and hails the pro-
mise of a constitution for China
as a step in the right direction.
At the same time, he does not
hesitate to denounce the pecula-
tions and injustices of the
official class of China. We
wish the paper could be read
by foreigners (there is a page
of well-written English in each
number) and Chinese alike.

The same paper refers as
follows to a recent action of
« ^ ^. , the Board of
Bn&^imel^ Education in

Speecb. p^i^.^^g^ ,,^^

are sorry to hear that, guided
by a most foolish and short-
sighted policy, the Board of
Education in Peking has issued
definite instructions to the effect
that no mission or other school,
controlled or established by
foreigners, will be allowed to
be registered at the Board, nor
will any government recogni-
tion be vouchsafed to their
graduates.'* We opine that
there is more smoke than fire

in this enactment, and question
whether mission schools will
have much to suffer therefrom.
The editor further stigmatises
it as ** suicidal to our highest
and best interests, and will
surely have the effect of delay-
ing the eagerly hoped-for re-
naissance of China. Our
government should not forget
that it is to the men whom the
mission schools have turned
out that China is, to a large
extent, indebted for her present
state of progress and enlighten-
ment ; and it is still due to the
efforts of these men that China
is making so much real prog-
ress in reform to-day." There
is hope for China when her
editors give expression to such
sentiments as these.

The problem which China
has to solve in seeking to
Cbfna'a E&uca» establishcom-
tional problem. monj<=l7ols
for her four
hundred millions may well
give her pause. In the United
States of America, with a
population of some eighty
millions, there are about half
a million school teachers, not
counting college professors, etc.
On a similar basis China would
need, say, two million teachers.
Where will she get even a
fraction of that number ? And
the school buildings for all
these ? The money for the
same ? And the salaries of the
teachers ? Well may China be
appalled at the task set before
her. In the face of such facts
we are convinced that she will
be glad to avail herself of the
output of the mission schools

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

637

for many years to come. And
we further believe that the
graduates of mission schools
will be found so much better
educated than those from
Chinese public schools that
the men from the mission
schools will long be at a
premium over the others.

* * *

Among the most striking
features of the outgrowth of mis-
« ^ ^iif sion work in Japan

wSrft has been the found-
ing and work of the
orphanage at Okayama, under
Rev. Mr. Ishii. Those who
are acquainted with the work
know that it sprung out of Mr.
Ishii' s having read the Life of
George Miiller and of his
desire to found a similar in-
stitution conducted on similar
lines for Japanese orphans.
His work has been going on
now for some years. Dur-
ing the earthquake a few years
ago he received large accessions,
but the work, while passing
through various vicissitudes,
has constantly increased ; and
now we learn that on account
of the recent famine in parts of
Japan they have grown from
375 to 1,300 inmates, requir-
ing a monthly budget of Yen
7,000.00

In the life of the late Bishop
Schereschewsky an apprecia-
CbeXate^Bisbop tion of whose
Scbcteecbewsftfi. w°rkwepub-
lish m this
issue, we have a remarkable
and touching instance of the
heroic, such as has rarely been
equalled in all the annals

of missionary life. What could
exceed his devotion to the
work of putting the Word of
God direct from his mother
tongue of Hebrew, into the
language of this great people,
and what more pathetic than
his continuance at the work
for long years after most people
would have supposed that they
were utterly incapacitated for
work, or that the prosecution
of it was carried on under too
great difficulties ? We should
like to see a fitting account of
his life put into Chinese, that
they might know what love
for the Scriptures and for their
people could prompt a man to
do and endure.

Chinese literature is read
to-day with more intelligent
interest than ever

XLbe IRcw
Xitcrature.

before in the his-
tory of this coun-
try. There are several reasons
for this. Wise and useful as
the classics are they have never
been studied universally by the
people for the sake of the
truth embodied in them. E:?s-
cept in a comparatively few
cases the Confucian books have
been a ' ^ grind ' ' for the
student with emolument as an
objective and nothing else.
The only really interesting
literature for the Chinese has
•been the extra canonical novel
professedly tabooed but pract-
ically devoured by the recently
high-nosed literati. But truth
is stranger than fiction and
countries where the inhabitants
race balloons and talk over
steel wire are more interesting
than the intangible and shad-

638

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

^be IReason
tor It.

owy regions described in the
Shan Hai King. There is
a better literature produced in
China to-day than ever before,
for which missionaries should
be duly credited^ for if we
do not produce all that is
now printed we created the
demand.

This demand is grounded
in a new taste. The Chinese
are beginning to
value truth for its
own sake. What
has barred the progress of the
Gospel and exasperated many
a nerve - str^iined missionary
during the one hundred years
past has been the stolid indif-
ference to fact and the deadly
unconcern for indubitable evid-
ence and proven truth. Now
the missionary is rejoiced to
see that some stirrings of inter-
est are manifest even in remote
districts. Twenty years ago
the Viceroy of Nanking, Tso
Tsung-tang, deprecated the use
of a watch in his yamen. Were
His Excellency in office to-
day a foreign time piece would
be very convenient in case
he had to catch the 10:30
train !

Our friends the Chinese have
found out that truth, even if
imported, may touch the life
of the individual as well as
the nation and hence is useful
for its own sake.

And this is another reason
for the scramble
after modern lit-
erature. To meet
the demand all kinds of pab-

ulum is provided by the thrifty
publishers. Like ourselves the
Chinese prefer recent news, and
they read the recent telegrams
first. We often forget w^hat
amount of general information
is required to assimilate a news-
paper article. Something more
than a knowledge of the al-
phabet, the proper collocation
of the letters and a decent syntax
is required. We read the
newspaper mechanically, as it
were ; but the Chinese has to
begin dc novo. A dissertation
on how long a Confucian
night robe should be, or how
to ascend the steps in a bird-
like manner, will not assist
much to-day in explaining a
wire which intimates that the
Sultan is ill or elucidate the
Report of the Traveling Com-
missioners, which is to have
such far reaching consequences
in the reasonably near future.
We must sympathize with our
friends who have so much to
learn in such a short time.
* * *

With a better literature and
a healthier taste the Chinese
are advancing

B Great ®p=

rapidly and are

21 XTastc anD a
IFlcccesit^.

poctunitfi. beginning to take
initiative in matters which
pertain to themselves. It is a
dangerous time — a crucial —
and it becomes our duty to
see that they do not get cham-
pagne for tea and highly in-
jurious chemical food stufifs for
rice.

The moral tone of the
current Chinese literature is
generally good. The periodic-
als are the avowed enemies
of Buddhism, Taoism, opium,

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

639

foot-binding, and graft. Reform
is in the air, but this move-
ment is still in its analytic-
al stage. The fallacies and
errors of idolatry, the evils of
brutal customs may be exposed,
but there seems to be no power
in this literature to build up
from the ruins a better struc-
ture. There is no synthesis.
Here then is opportunity for
missionaries under the power of
the Spirit to construct the Chris-
tian church. The missions are
asking for larger appropriations
from the Home Boards this
year to enable them to reinforce
the army of preachers, teachers
and journalists who are engag-
ed in the work of establisliing
a church that will be a power
for good to the individual as
well as to the people on the
one foundation of Jesus Christ
Our Lord.

* * *

Our thoughts on the share
the Mission Press of China has
in this construc-

Zbe Cburcb
(5a3cttc.

tive work have
been quickened by
the desire to welcome to the
number of missionary period-
icals, T/ie Church Gazette

(« 3^ fc. t IK)- We hoped
to have given a welcome earlier,
but pressure of other matter
has always prevented. The
Church Gazette first saw the
light on March ist of this year.
The removal of the headquart-
ers of the Hwa Met Kiao Pao
(* Slli fS) to Shanghai was
the cause of this paper being
started. Fakien has by far
the largest number of Chris-
tians of any province in China,
and it certainly seemed a pity

that so large a contingency
should be left without a local
paper. Another reason, we
understand, for its establish-
ment, is to be found in the
increasing need of additional
bonds of union between the
scattered congregations of the
Anglican Church and between
the Christians of that and other
communions. The style and
price are intended to bring the
periodical within the reach of
all reading Christians. It is in
Easy Wen-li and costs only
fifteen cents for the twelve
monthly copies. The menu is
certainly an appetizing one; the
standard dishes being sermons,
essays, church and general
news, with medical and mis-
cellaneous articles.

It might be well also to

refer to the publications of

abtletlan ° * '^.^ "i ^^o^ieties.

Petloeicals. D»""gD5-A"\"^
recent trip to the

United States the Review oj
the Times (^ B & fE) was
well cared for by Rev. D.
MacGillivray ; and now that
Rev. W. A. Cornaby, the
editor of the Chinese Christian
Rcviezv (+ W li # fK) and
the Chinese Weekly (:;^ f^ f§)
goes home on a well-earned
furlough, our readers will be
interested in hearing that Rev.
B. Morgan assumes the editor-
ial supervision during Mr.
Cornaby 's absence. The Htva
Mei Kiao Piao ($ Uli %)
needs no recommendation to
our readers, and even better
known are the publications of
the Chinese Tract Society, The
Illustrated News (4 IB Sf ^)

640

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

and The Child's Paper (^ fg).
One of the most recent recruits
in this field is the Pu Tinig
Wen Pao^ published in the
Standard Mandarin Romaniza-
tion. But possibly the paper
that has made the greatest
advance in recent months has
been the Chinese Christian
lutelligencer (5§ f^ ^ ) which,
under the able and versatile
direction of Rev. S. I. Wood-
bridge, has got beyond the
4,000 mark of weekly circula-
tion.

power ot tbc
press.

There is every encourage-
ment to hope for large and last-
ing results from
the growth of the
Christian Press in
China. The foregoing para-
graphs show the need and
how it is being partly filled.
Our thoughts turn to the re-
spect the average native has
for the printed character, and
our mind's eye runs in imagina-
tion along all the new lines
being opened up for the dis-
tribution of the printed page ;
and with prayerful satisfaction
we think of fresh supplies pre-
pared for the thousands who
have been intellectually and
spiritually starved.

It was most interestingly
illustrated, some time ago, that
the power of the home Press
was not on the wane. Many
of our readers may have noticed
how the letter to the Daily
Telegraph (London) two years
ago on '*Do we believe?"
started a discussion which ran
for three months. The total
number of letters received
amounted to at least 9,000 ;

©ur
jfrontisptece.

and if all the letters and ser-
mons had been printed, they
would have occupied 2,500
columns of newspaper.

We look forward with an-
ticipation to a complete list
of public and private periodicals
being issued in connection with
churches and schools all over
China for the Centenary Con-
ference.

We congratulate Dr. Kelly
and his Mission on the erection
of the two build-
ings which ap-
pear as our front-
ispiece. We understand that
they have also put up a girls'
school in the same style of
architecture. The curvilinear
tilting of the roof corners is so
obvious that our minds at first
sight dwell on the subject of
architecture and go back to
antiquity, when these perky
projections were a survival
from the days of tent dwellers.
The subject is, however, a
debatable one, seeing we have
no records of the Chinese
except as a settled agricultural
people, with little necessity for
hanging canvas coverings on
spears. But our readers will
be more interested in the
object for which these build-
ings will be used. With
regard to these hospitals, Dr.
Kelly writes : —

"The lower floor of each hospital
has a reception room, five private
rooms, a store room, chapel and one
large ward. The upper floor has two
large wards, operating room, steriliz-
ing room, etc. Elach building has
fifty beds. The kitchen, laundr}-, etc.
are in detached building. The dis-
pensary is near the entrance to the
compound, and contains a waiting

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

641

room, drug room two consulting rooms
and three rooms for isolation pa-
tients."

* * *

It is impossible for us to
print all that is sent us on this

3fet)eratfon '^^'^^^^^ ^^S ^^
tnCbina. this issue we have
given in full Mr.
Box's comprehensive and sug-
gestive paper, as well as ac-
counts of the Pei-tai-ho and
Mok-han-san conferences in the
Missionary News department,
and of the Kuling meeting in
the Correspondence columns.
There is no doubt that the
cause of Federation has been
advanced another step in the
conferences of the past sum-
mer. It has been made evid-
ent that ignorance and mis-
understanding of ideals and
methods have bulked largely
in causes of opposition to
Federation. This subject will
become more and more prom-
inent the nearer we get to
the Centenary Conference ; and
in this connection we would
emphasize what Mr. Box says
on page 613: '^ Don't endan-
ger the cause of federation by
raising debateable points at this
stage, but first make quite sure
of federation itself, then apply
its details. ' ' Might we not treat
Federation as the Chinese Gov-
ernment has treated Constitu-
tionalism— the principle being
accepted, but the details being
left for subsequent discussion
and solution ?

With regard to Pre-confer-
ence work, our readers will be

Conference
preparations.

pleased to learn
that the Com-
mittee on the
Revision of the Mandarin New
Testament have finished their
work, and it is hoped the manu-
scripts will soon be in the hands
of the Bible Societies for publica-
tion. We do not envy those
who are working in the matter
of statistics for more than one
reason. Rev. W. N. Bitton has
been heartily welcomed back
to China after a visit home.
We understand he has been
asked to undertake the com-
pilation of statistics for the
Conference. In this connec-
tion we would refer to the Jap-
anese Missionary Year Book,
reviewed on page 631. With
regard to the report on statis-
tics it seems that a discrepancy
must have occurred in last
year's figures ; probably one
section of the church reporting
five thousand communicants
too many. The total of com-
municants, or full members, for
the past year for Japan is
48,087, as against 50,054 for
the year before, notwithstand-
ing there had been 5,099 bap-
tized during the year. We
trust the possibility of such
mistakes will lead all to be
careful and prompt in supply-
ing their statistics, so as to
make the work of the compilers
as accurate as possible.

642

The Chinese Recorder.

[Novembei

Missionary News.

Personals.

Many of our readers who are inter-
ested in the splendid work done by
the Rev. W. H. Murray among the
blind, will be interested in the an-
nouncement in our Missionary Journal
this month of the marriage of his
eldest daughter, Miss Theodora, to
the Rev. Charles W. Kastler, formerly
of the Basel Mission, Swatow. The
ceremony was performed by the Rt.
Rev. Bishop Scott. Mr. Kastler has
joined Mr. Murray in his work for the
blind, in which he has already render-
ed valuable assistance during his
stay in Peking pursuing the study of
Chinese.

In these days when so much is said
of the attitude of the Chinese towards
foreigners, it is well also for the
foreigners to consider their attitude
towards the Chinese. We are glad to
draw attention to a report in the
Peking and Tieriisin Times some
time ago of the pleasure given to the
literati of Tientsin by the spirit of
conciliation shown by the Methodist
Episcopal ^Mission in the transfer to
them of a building to be used as a
public library. We understand the
Rev. F. Brown was presented with a
tablet in recognition of his good offices
in the matter. The tablet bears the
inscription ^|. ^ ^ f,^, "Showing Con-
sideration and Generosity between
Chinese and Foreigners." " Presented
by the leaders of the lyiterati of Tien-
tsin Hsien ".

Canton Notes.

CANTON PRKSBYTKRY.

The Presbytery of the Ameri-
can Presbyterian Church met
here on September 13 and 14. It
was probably the most interest-
ing session in the history of
Presbyterianism in Canton. In
former years most of the business
has been carried through by the
foreign members ; the Chinese

elders being afraid to take the
initiative. But a new China is
born, and nowhere is this more
evident than within the ranks
of the Christian church. Several
young Chinese pastors delivered
excellent addresses and took a
leading part in the business.
Four young preachers were ex-
amined and ordained to the holy
office of the ministry. Dr. A. A.
Fulton was elected moderator.
A most interesting movement
was the adoption of a Home
Mission scheme, which is to be
managed altogether by the
Chinese, excepting that in spirit-
ual things it will be under the
jurisdiction of Presbytery. An-
other encouraging sign was the
condemnation of the church's
connection with law cases ; and a
motion that missionaries, preach-
ers and elders should, as far as
possible, have nothing to do with
such, was agreed to. The Chinese
speakers seemed to feel keenly
their duty to evangelise their
own nation, a work which can
never be done in any adequate
way by foreign missionaries.
The meetings were a prophecy
of great things in days to come
when the Presbyterian Church of
of China is formed. It must be
a comfort to veterans like Dr.
Noyes and Dr. Fulton to see the
young church arising to bear its
own burden. The Church of
Christ everywhere should be
exhorted to pray that wisdom
may be given to the young
Chinese leaders and that they
may be led by no spirit but the
Holy Spirit. We missionaries
too need special grace to under-
stand the times and know what
we should do.

1906.]

Missionary News.

643

Hongkong Missionary
Association.

Bishop Hoark Memorial Meeting.

The quarterly meeting of the
Hongkong Missionary Associa-
tion was held at the Z,. M., Bon-
ham Road, on Tuesday, October
2nd, 1906, at 7.30.

During the proceedings the
Rev. T. W. Pearce, of the L. M.
S., instead of a paper, read the
following resolution : —

'• That the Hongkong Missionary
Association, assembled for the first
time since the death of the Bishop of
Victoria, mark the occasion by defer-
ring until next meeting the reading
of the usual paper on a Missionary
topic."

This resolution was passed
and agreed to unanimously by
the whole Association.

After this the meeting was
open for remarks referring to the
sad loss sustained by the Asso-
ciation in the removal of its ori-
ginator, the late Bishop Hoare.

The following gentlemen : Mr.
Pearce, Mr. Genahr, Dr. Hager,
Mr. Gutmann, all expressed on
their own behalf and on behalf
of their missions, their warmest
sympathy with Mrs. Hoare and
family as well as with the C.
M. S. Letters expressing the
same sympathy by the Revs. C.
Bone and T. Miiller, \vho were
prevented from being present,
were read.

Archdeacon Banister replied in
behalf of his Mission and ex-
pressed his deep felt gratitude
for all that had been said, and
added a few personal reminis-
cences about the late Bishop,
whom he had known for twenty
years.

At the close of the meeting
the following resolution was
read : —

Concerning the recent death of the
Bishop of Victoria it be ^Resolved :

"That this Association records its
devout submission to the will of God
who has seen fit to take from our
Protestant missionary community a
wise and experienced leader ;

That it proffers to Mrs. Hoare and
to her sons and daughters, in their,
deep sorrow, heartfelt sympathy ;

That it extends a like sympathy to
other relatives and to the many per-
sonal friends of Bishop Hoare ; and

That it prays the God of all comfort
to manifest, specially at this time,
His presence in the bereaved churches
of this diocese of Victoria."

Further be it /Resolved:

"That this Association expresses
earnest Christian sympathy with the
relatives and friends of the four Chi-
nese students who met their death
with Bishop Hoare, being at the time
engaged with him in evangelistic ser-
vice."

Dr. Hager proposed that the
two resolutions be passed, and
the Rev. I. Genahr seconded ;
whereupon the whole Associa-
tion stood up to show their
approval.

While standing. Archdeacon
Banister, who was in the chair,
pronounced the Benediction and
dissolved the meeting, which
had been characterized by much
mutual love and respect.

The Mo-kan-shan Confer-
ence on Federation.

BY REV. E. I/. MATTOX.

An interesting conference on
Christian Federation and Comity
was held on Mo - kan - shan,
Monday forenoon, August 27th,
i» the church. An informal
canvass showed that there were
about sixteen societies represent-
ed on the mountain, and that
while there was not much enthu-
siasm on the subject of federa-
tion, still there was a good deal
of latent interest that only needed
the occasion to call it forth.
This occasion was given in the

644

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

conference, which was very well
attended.

A program was prepared with
leaders to present the various
phases of the subject. The first
paper was by the Rev. H. I^. W.
Bevan, of the L. M. S., Shanghai
on * ' Federation in Educational
Work." Mr. Bevan presented a
very carefully prepared paper in
which he noticed a number of im-
portant respects in which existing
educational institutions could co-
operate with a view to federation
and possibly union later on.
Among other things he mention-
ed the unifying of grades or
standards, the need of normal
schools for training teachers,
some common test or standard
for examinations, the use of
common text-books, a ticket or
certificate to be given to students
on leaving one school that could
be presented on their entering
another institution, showing
their grade, character, reasons
for leaving, etc. In conclusion
he said the greatest difficuly in
the way of closer federation was
to be fouud in our own disposi-
tions and characters rather than
in the Chinese.

The second topic was opened
by Rev. J. T. Proctor, of the
Baptist Mission in Huchow, on
* * Practical Mission Comity in
the lyocal Field." He defined
comity as a recognition of our
oneness with other denomina-
tions ; that your work is the
same as viine^ thus making all
of our work mutually easier ; the
absence of rivalry and positive
co-operation. He said "comity
is the preparatory course of
Christian federation in China
leading on in time, it is to be
hoped, to the post-graduate
course of church union." He
touched on the important ques-
tions of division of territory,
dealing with enquirers, inter-

change of church members,
formation of a committee on
comity for these two provinces,
so many of whose missionaries
meet annually at Mo-kan-shan,
etc.

Rev. P. F. Price next consider-
ed *' Some Practical Aspects of
Federation in China," in which
he emphasized the importance of
the right understanding of the
life, worship and mission or
work of the church in China.
In worship he took it for grant-
ed that the term question would
be settled along the lines propos-
ed by the Peking Committee.
He also urged the great need of
a common hymn book with an
authorized version of a number
of hymns, anywhere from 25 to
100 that could be used in union
meetings and gatherings ; also a
common version of the Lord's
Prayer, in w^hich all could unite
without confusion. In regard to
the mission of the church he
feared that there was grave
danger that the spiritual nature
of the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ would be misunderstood.
The Chinese idea of a " huei" is
an organization for mutual pro-
tection. This idea has been
fostered in the church by the
Roman Catholics, and can we
say there are no weak points in
protestantism along this line,
though undoubtedly the senti-
ment is against it ? There is
often a lack of full control in the
field of the missionary, a failure
to grasp the situation as a whole
and furthermore a lack of suf-
ficient oversight in the out-
stations, where the missionary is
often totally ignorant of many
things said and done in the name
of the church.

The fourth topic, "The Part
the Chinese Christians should
have in a Scheme for Federa-
tion" was treated by Rev. J. L.

1906.]

Missionary News.

645

Hendry. This whole work of
federation is for the Chinese ;
they are in the great majority,
we are only taking the initiative
for them. We may be competent
to do this, but must not let the
Chinese get the idea we don't
w^ant them to lead off. We have
been longing and praying that
the Chinese should become lead-
ers. We are the helpers. It
is not the natives who object to
federation or even union ; they
want it. Mr. Hendry expressed
regret that the Chinese Chris-
tians had no representation in
the Centenary Conference next
May.

Dr. DuBose, Dr. Bryan, Mr.
Ware, Dr. Parker, and others
took part in the open discussion
that followed. It seemed to be
the unanimous sentiment that
the time had come to take steps
towards a closer federation of all
bodies of Christians in China.
The following resolution was
adopted unanimously : —

•' Resolved, That we approve in
general of the plan of federation
proposed by the Peking Conference
last year."

At the close of the conference
a meeting was held of delegates
to the Mo-kan-shan section of
the Central China Divisional
Council as provided for in the
above mentioned plan. There
were eighteen delegates present,
representing twelve different so-
cieties. The thres representatives
we were entitled to elect to
the representative committee or
council of all China were ballot-
ted for. The Rev. A. P. Parker,
D.D., of the Southern Methodist
Mission, Shanghai ; the Rev. J.
R. Goddard, D.D., of the Ameri-
can Baptist Missionary Union,
Ningpo; and the Rev. P. F. Price,
of the Southern Presbyterian
Mission, Dong-shang, were elect-
ed.

A committee of five was ap-
pointed to choose the three
Chinese delegates to this large
representative committee or
council for the whole of China.
The names of the Chinese dele-
gates will be given later.

A Revival Still Continued.

BY REV. T. N. THOMPSON.

Some three months ago I wrote of
a revival in this part of Northern
China bordering on the German S. t-
tlement at Tsingtau and in the
province of Shantung. When I wrote
we were in the midst of continual
meetings. I am glad to say that the
spirit of revival has increased rather
than diminished. While all the meet-
ings were going on out in the country
and many were being brought to
Christ, the native pastor here in the
city said very plaintively, "Every-
where but in Tsingtau." Anyone
who has ever done mission work here
in the Kast will understand this
remark, and it is well known that the
very hardest places in which to do
mission work are these port cities,
where so many vicious foreigners
congregate. Every open port where
foreigners are found makes the heart
of the missionary ache many times.
But we did not think it right to let the
Devil have it all his own way here in
Tsingtau, so we concluded to make
a special evangelistic campaign here
in this city. With that purpose in
view, two of the Chinese pastors at the
Easter season, a four days' holiday
with the Germans here, came into the
city and proposed that meetings be
held during these days of leisure.
Such meetings were held, lasting three
day*), but we felt they were not what
they ought to have been, and we
recognized that not sufficient prayer
had yet been made. Then we
arranged for a series of prayer meet-
ings several times a week, lasting
through the next seven weeks, and at
the Feast of the Pentecost to hold
another campaign. The preparatory
meetings were carried on very
faithfully. Almost at our very first
meeting it seemed that some were
there ready to confess Christ. When
an opportunity was given six young
men stood up for the Savior. This
encouraged us to go ahead, and soon
others came and asked for prayer,

646

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

confessing sins. One man, who had
been in the toils of the opium fiend,
had a terrible struggle, but prayer
was made without ceasing for him
and he is now free from the terrible
curse. A man by the name of " Li "
confessed to the most horrible of sins,
terrible indeed, and as it seems has
entered on a new life. This kept up,
and one day a request was made that
at the evening meeting prayer should
be made for a man named "Liu,"
who had known something of the
'doctrine," but had gone back to
sin. That evening a delegation of
four went down to talk with him at
his own home, while the remainder of
us stayed at the church to pray for
him. This was kept up for an hour.
The next morning, when I went to
the church to meet with a small pray-
ing band which was accustomed to
meet there once a week, what was
my surprise to see the church one-
third full of men. Upon entering
I found a very interesting ceremony
going on. The man for whom we had
been praying the night before was
receiving baptism, as he wished it at
once, and was leaving that very day
for Singapore, taking with him some
sixty coolies to make a contract .on
some public work. About half of
these coolies were here to see their
leader baptized, and they also receiv-
ed portions of the Scriptures and
catechisms, presents from the native
church.

The leader of much of our work
was : man who had been formerly
baptized by the China Inland Mission,
but who had seemed to have not
received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, and now after attending our
meetings decided that he needed a
deeper experience, and after confess-
ing his sins, got peace, and now is
one of our best workers in the whole
church. As he is a " compradore "
in one of the large "Lighter" Com-
panies and a very rich man, we are
hoping he will have great influence
in the church. After these seven
weeks of preparatory meetings were
held, then the country pastors and
leaders came in and meetings were
held for two days of the various
prayer-bands. These met for several
hours each day and prayed for hours
by name for those who had back-
slidden. How these people can pray !
I remember one of the pastors who,
after carrying on eight or ten hours
of meetings every day, would be still
praying when I would drop to sleep
at night, as we slept in the same little
room in the country, and then when

I wakened in the morning I would
hear his voice in prayer. In fact he
often awakened me by his prayers
spoken aloud. The all-day meetings
in Tsingtau were always opened by
a "sunrise" prayer-meeting and this
of times lasted till ten a.m., and one
day till noon before a stop could be
made. Of all our winter's meetings
the last series in Tsingtau was the
best. No one wanted to hear the
preachers preach. All wanted to pray
for friends or to confess their own
sins and ask for forgiveness. One man
confessed that at the time of the
Boxer insurrection he had managed
lawsuits in the name of the church
and made |6oo in that way, all of
which he had spent in gambling and
smoking opium. The sad thing of
all this was that he had been educated
for the ministry, having finished his
course, but had never been ordained.
He had been in prison two years ;
put out of the church once ; stricken
with a foul disease. When I prayed
with him at his bedside at one time
I considered him as a man who had
been punished by God severely in-
deed. Yet here he was, well-dressed,
,healthy and confessing his sins with
the tears running down his cheeks
and all the time speaking of the mer-
cies of God. Another man, who had
also studied for the ministry, had
learned English and German and
went to Peking with the German
army as interpreter in 1900. He had
looted at the siege of Peking and
had learned to gamble and drink.
In a drunken fit he had dashed out
the brains of his own child. After-
wards he was in jail for three years.
Prayer was made for him night and
day. He .got out of jail, came to our
meetings and confessed all his sins.
Now he has a list of his friends, for
whom he prays every day. Another,
named " Tsiao," had also learned Ger-
man and earned about $1000 — much
money for a Chinese. He also learned
to smoke opium and to gamble. His
parents were Christians, and at one of
our meetings early in the winter had
been blessed. They went home and
held family worship every day. For
twenty-one days the mother prayed
for her son and he also returned as
a prodigal. He has now opened a
small class for those who want to
learn the religion of Christ and has
now among his pupils five of those
who formerly gambled and drank
with him.

In these last metings no leader was
allowed. The pastors, who were an-
nounced to speak ou subjects before

1906.]

Missionary News.

647

hand, could not be heard, as some
one was wanting to pray or confess
their sins all the time. One old wom-
an stood up just as the pastor was
about to begin his talk on a certain
subject already announced, and told
him to sit down ; she must speak now
and tell her sins. And so it went on.
No way to stop them. One pastor
had prepared to speak on four sub-
jects. He never had an opportunity
to expound but one. Others fared
worse. The speaker was not wanted,
but the praying ones had their in-
nings. After the meetings were ended
the people formed a " Repentance
Society," comprising twenty-one per-
sons. You will notice that this has
mostly been a work of grace among
the church members themselves.
There have been many hypocrites and
cold ones among them while many
were living in open and secret sin.
These meetings brought home to them
their sins with tremendous convic-
tion. The work still goes on in the
country. The women have contributed
hundreds of finger rings, bracelets,
large hair-pins, ear-rings and other
ornaments of silver, giving them to
the native pastors and praying them
to open schools in the country where
they might learn of this new doctrine
which cares for women and taught
them to read.

They in this district are consider-
ing the church as their own and are
assuming the burden of its support in
a way very pleasing to our hearts.

Minutes of Conference on

Federation in North

China.

Held at Pei-tai-ho, August 2jrd
and 24th, igo6.

The Conference met in the Assem-
bl}'^ Hall at 9.30 a.m., on Thurs-
day, August 23rd, and was called
to order by Dr. Cochrane. After
prayer and the singing of a hymn,
" The Church's One Foundation," Dr.
Cochrane said he was only acting at
the request of the Peking Committee,
to call the meeting together, and
would therefore ask the Conference to
elect a Chairman,

Dr. Wherry was then, by unanimous
vote, called to the chair. In his open-
ing remarks he said he felt it a great
honour to be chosen Chairman of a
Council so important as this, though

he could wish a younger man had
been selected, who might impart
more life and vigour to the meeting.

The next business was the election
of a Permanent Secretary for North
China. Dr. Cochrane's name was
mentioned, and, after many references
had been made to his earnest and
untiring services to the cause of
Federation, he was unanimously
elected by acclamation.

The Rev. Dr. Ament was appointed
Treasurer and Rev. E. W. Burt Re
cording Secretary.

The following duly accredited dele
gates answered to their names : — Rev
Drs. Ament, Wherry and Hobart Drs
Cochrane and Menzies, Revs. J
Webster, J. Keers, J. O'Melvena, G
T. Candlin, D. S. Murray, M
McKenzie, S. E. Meech, J. F. Drys
dale, E. W. Burt, whilst Rev. A. M
Cunningham, Dr Christie, Revs. G
Cornwell and W. W. Simpson were
represented by proxy.

In addition to these delegates, there
were also present many other mission-
aries and friends.

It >\as decided that only delegates
should vote, but that others present
be cordially invited to take part in
the discussions.

The Chairman having raised the
question as to the status of the meet-
ing in regard to the Federation move-
ment, Dr. Cochrane said the primary
object of the Conference was to
constitute itself a Divisional Council
for North China for the election of
representatives to a Council of the
Empire. This was, of course, on the
supposition that the other parts of
China agreed to join in the Federa-
tion movement. If, however, the
larger scheme should not at present
take definite shape, then we should
prosecute the Federation in our own
sphere of influence here in North
China.

Rev. G. T. Candlin strongly sup-
ported Dr. Cochrane's suggestion that
in any case, whether the rest of China
joined or not, we should at once
proceed to form a Federal Council for
Jiorth China. He referred to the
historic occasion two years ago when
the idea was first publicly mooted,
and to the inspiring meeting last year
in Peking, and said: "We don't
propose to labour in vain ; whoever
does, or does not go forward, we
will" (applause). Dr. Cochrane had
expressed some misgiving as to cer-
tain parts of the Empiie, but he, Mr.
Candlin, thought we had the best of
grounds for cherishing confidence as
to the rest of China.

648

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

By the vote of the delegates it was
decided that this Conference is hereby
constituted a Federal Council for
North China.

On enquiry as to a geographical
definition of North China, it was
announced that it would include
Chihli (with Mongolia), Shantung,
Shansi, Shensi, Honan, Kansu, and
Manchuria.

Some speakers questioning the gen-
eral desire for federation, the Secre-
tary replied that, with the exception
of the Cliina Inland Mission, all the
larger missions in North China were
represented at the present Council,
and further that the nature of the
replies received to circular sent out
proved conclusively that North China
desired federation.

The Chairman pointed out that no
Council could possibly represent all
missionaries, but only the ideas of the
leading minds.

Mr. Green (C. I. M.) read letters
from five of the northern provinces,
where his Mission has work, from
which it appeared that the C. I. M.
did not wish to commit itself until
after the Shanghai Conference of 1907.
Several speakers expressed themselves
as being somewhat in the dark, and
appeared not to realise that all
hitherto done is tentative and liable to
revision. There was no lack of sym-
pathy with the ideas underlying this
movement, for, as Mr. Green well put
it, " If the pan-denominational C. I. M.
cannot go in for union, who can ? "

Rev. Dr. Hobart (M. E. M., Ch'ang-
li) said that action taken now could
only bind the missions who had sent
delegates, and that full opportunity
would be left for others to come in
later if they so desired.

Rev. E. W. Burt (B:. B. M. , Shan-
tung) asked for patience with those
who, lacking full information, were
desirous of moving slowly ; he asked
whether even delegates to this Council
were authorised to act out and out
for their missions, and so commit
them to whatever might be done.

On the suggestion of the Rev. M.
McKenzie (Canadian Presbyterian
Mission, Honan) the Council gave an
opportunity to those who had not
been present at former conferences to
express their views on the general
question of federation.

Whereupon Messrs. E. W. Burt and
R. M. Mateer spoke of the actual
measure of union long ago attained in
Shantung and of the misgivings felt by
some that this new Federal Council
would involve much additional ma-
chinery and expense, and they both

emphasised the vital importance of the
Chinese Christians being taken into
full consultation from the first, so
that, in all its steps, the Chinese may
feel this is their movement and not
one engineered from without by
foreigners.

The Rev. Dr. Sheffield said our
minds have Ijeen directed to this
ultimate goal all along ; that an
organised federation would be the
best way of guiding the movement
we see on all sides, both within
tl^e church and without, of China
for the Chinese. He proceeded to
speak of the broad vision of Dr
Cochrane after the cataclysm of 1900
and of the overwhelming response of
all China in favour of union, and how
this wide-spread spirit of union leads
to organisation as its natural and
fitting expression.

The Rev. S. E. Meech informed the
meeting that 400 missionaries in
North China were represented by
delegates at this Council, that 124
were unrepresented either from dist-
ance or other cause, that the Church
of England with twenty-four mission-
aries, and the China Inland Mission
with 142, though not represented by
delegates, yet had in each case sent
members to participate in the Confer-
ence and gather information as to
the nature of the movement, while
throughout the whole of North China
only twenty missionaries could be
described as objectors.

The Rev. IM. McKenzie said that
while we must move slowly, yet we
must move, and reminded the Council
how every great movement in the his-
tory of the church had been opposed
by some of the best and wisest of her
sons, though afterwards many had
come to see that they had been mis-
taken. The home churches look to
missionaries to set the pace in this
matter of union, which must work
out for the decided advancement of
the church in China ; and if some are
not yet prepared to come up to our
standard, that is no reason why we
should go back to theirs.

The Rev. F. B. Turner (E. M. M.)
contended the advice to move slowly
often meant waiting for the indefinite
future. ISrinorities have their rights
to a certain point, and should be
carefully considered, but the whole
question should not be given away,
even if an influential minority did
exist, which he for one very much
doubted, especially after hearing Dr.
Cochrane 's statement.

Rev. G. T. Candlin reminded the
Council how, when the scheme came

1906.]

Missionary News.

649

up for discussion two years ago, men
for the sake of union deliberately gave
up very strongly cherished opinions.
It was still open to revise any par-
ticular details, but if any mission was
opposed to the principle of federation,
the honest course was to say so, and
not send deli gates,

[Statement of accounts crushed out ;
it will appear in reprints.]

From the above it will be seen that
there is a balance due to the Treasurer
of $99.30, which will be considerably
increased by the printing and dis-
semination of the present minutes, so
contributions from those who may
not yet have sent them in, or who
feel like giving further donations,
will be gladly received. In this con-
nection it may be of interest to com-
mend to others the example of the
South Chihli Mission, which collected
1^40 as its contribution, then, finding
it could not send a delej^jate this year,
added another I50, which sum it was
estimated would be required for a
delegate's expense, had one been able
to go.

After receiving the Treasurer's re-
port the Council adjourned until 2.30
p.m.

In resuming the session Mr. Green
opened with prayer. The Chairman
reminded the Conference that the two
chief items of business before it were :
(i) to appoint delegates to a Repre-
sentative Council of the Empire, and
(2) to start an organisation for North
China, which should secure a real
working union.

The following resolution was carried
unanimously : —

" That this Conference of Delegates,
representing sixteen missions in North
China with a staff of over 400 mission-
aries, is unanimously of opinion that
it is desirable to form a Federal Union
of all Christian churches in North
China, and recommends that the
delegates appointed to this Confer-
ence shall form the Council of such
Federation for the present, and that
such missions as are not now repre-
sented be cordially invited to appoint
representatives on this Council.

It was also decided to appoint
Executive Committees to assist the
General Secretary in carrying out
the recommendations of the Federal
Council.

The following gentlemen were
appointed a subcommittee to consi-
der the best basis of representation
and other details, and report to the
present Conference, viz., Messrs
Cochrane, Hobart, McKenzie, Keers,
and Burt.

The Conference then went into
committee of the whole in order that
the sub committee might gather the
views of the delegates.

There was general agreement that
the Chinese and foreign elements
should be equally represented on the
Council ; also that the representation
should be based on territory and
church-membership, rather than on
denominational lines or the number
of missionaries.

The Conference adjourned at 4 p.m.

The third session was opened by
prayer at 9.30 a.m., on Friday, August
24th. The Rev. T. W. Pearce (L. M.
S. , Hongkong) was invited to speak
about the progress of the Federation
movement in South China. He gave
a very stirring and encouraging ad-
dress, which was much apjireciated
and frequently applauded. Mr.
Pearce said how in his visit to the
north last year he had been impressed
with what was being done in the
direction of iniion in T ungchou,
Peking and Shantung, and how he
went back to the south determined to
do his utmost to secure the same
advantages for South China as he had
seen the North enjoying. Since then
considerable progress had already
been made both in Hongkong and
Canton in the direction of union, and
as the result of correspondence with
the leading men throughout South
China, there was nothing but warm
approval of the general idea and
readiness to consider further practical
proposals In conclusion, Mr. Pearce
drove home the lesson that the specific
condition of every part of the mission
field must be carefully considered ;
that all lasting union must grow from
within outward, and that pains must
be taken to dispel all doubt as to any
being forced into a union that is
opposed to their vital principles. The
importance of personal visitation was
also emphasised, and Mr. Pearce
thought that if a deputation from
North China could be sent round the
missions of South and Central China,
it would give a greater impetus to the
Movement than any amount of corres-
pondence.

The report of the sub-committee
was called for. Rev. E. W. Burt, in
presenting the report, said that their
recommendations were unanimous
and had been drawn up after very
careful consideration of all that had
been said at the prevous sessions of
the Conference. They had seen the
desirability of combining the repre-
sentation of geographical units with
a representation proportionate to the

650

The Chinese Recorder.

[November,

number of church-members, and he
hoped that they had found a satis-
factory combination of these two
principles.

The report was first read, then dis-
cussed clause by clause, and, finally,
after some slight modifications, un-
animously adopted in the following
form : —

I. OBJECT.

That the object of the Federation
be to promote everything that will
demonstrate the essential unity of the
Christian church, and to devise and
recommend plans whereby the whole
North China field can be worked most
efiiciently and with the greatest
economy in men, in time, and money,
and also to seek the adoption of the
Federation principle throughout the
Empire with an ultimate view to still
closer Christian union.

II. METHODS.

(i). That each province form a
Provincial Council,

(2) That each Provincial Council
be entitled to two representatives on
the North China Federal Council, viz.,
one Chinese and one foreigner, ir-
respective of its number of Christians.

(3). That, for the present, each
Provincial Council be entitled to an
additional representation of two, viz.,
one Chinese and one foreigner for
each 2,000 of its communicants.

(4). That each Provisional Council
prepare reports of the work done in
its region for presentation through
its delegates to the Federal Council.

(5), That the first meeting of the
North China Federal Council be held
in the summer of 1908 at Pei-tai-ho,
but that the time and place of sub-
sequent meetings be left to the deci-
sion of the Federal Council itself.
And that, meantime, this Conference
urges the organisation and assembling
of the Provincial Councils before that
date, so as to secure full and proper
representation.

(6). That the questions referred to
in the outline of tentative scheme of
Federation, published by the Peking
Committee, be brought forward for
discussion at the Provincial Councils,
as well as any other questions these
Provincial Councils may deem of
general interest and importance.

(7). That an ad interim committee
of three in each province be requested

by this Council to take such action
as shall promote the objects in view,
and especially to secure the formation
of the Provincial Councils at as early
a date as possible. The following
gentlemen were unanimously request-
ed to serve on these ad interim Execu-
tive Committees : —

Manchuria.

Rev. J. Keers, Irish Presbyterian
Mission ; Rev. J. Webster, Scotch
IMission ; Rev. C. Bolwig, Danish
Mission

Chihli a7id Mongolia.
Rev. C. H. Fenn, D.D., American
Presbvterian Mission ; Rev. W.
T. Hobart, D.D., American Meth-
odist Episcopal ; Rev. G. T. Cand-
lin, English Methodist Mission.

Shanttmg.

Rev L J. Davies, American Presbyte-
rian Mission ; Rev. C. Voskamp,
Berlin Mission ; Rev. E. W. Burt,
English Baptist Mission.

Shansi,

Rev. E. J. Cooper, C. I. M. ; Rev.
O. E. Oberg, Scandinavian Mis-
sion ; Rev. Dr. Atwood, American
Board Mission.

Shensi.

Rev. A. G. Shorrock, ;English Bapt-
ist Mission ; Rev. G. F. Easton,
C. I. M.; Rev. A. Berg, Swedish
Mission.

Kansu.

Rev. G. Andrew, C. I. M.: Rev. D.
Tornvall, Scandinavian Alliance
Mission ; Rev. W. W. Simpson,
Christian Missionary Alliance.

Hona7t.

Rev. M. McKenzie, Canadian Pres-
byterian Mission ; Rev. G. Brock,
C. I. M.; Rev. C. Blom, Swedish
Mission.

(8). That this Conference does not
feel called upon to make recommenda-
tions with regard to the Constitution,
basis of representation, place, time,
and frequency of meeting of the Pro-
vincial Councils, but would leave all
such matters to the decision of the
Provincial Councils, which will have
before them the varying local needs
and conditions.

(9). That the following gentlemen
be requested to serve as delegates to
the first meeting of a National Repre-
sentative Council, the assembling of
which it shall be the duty of the
Federation Secretary to seek to secure,
previous to the Shanghai Conference
of 1907 : —

1906.]

Missionary News.

651

Dr. D. Christie, Scotch Presbyterian
Mission, Manchuria ; Rev. A.
Lutley, C. I. M., vShansi ; Rev. M.
McKenzie, Canadian Presbyterian
Mission, Honan ; Rev. L. J. Davies,
American Presbyterian Mission,
Shantuno^ ; Rev. H. H. Lowry,
D.I).. American Methodist Epis-
copal Mission, Peking; Dr.
Thomas Cochrane, Secretarv, L.
M. vS , Pekin^^
And that, for this time, one Chinese
representative be selected b}' the F.x-
ecutive Committee of each province ;
Kansn and vShensi being reckoned as
one for this purpose.

It was resolved that in case accredited
delegates to the Divisional Federation
Council be unable to attend, they may
be represented by proxies, bearing
written (Credentials.

After a closing prayer the Conference
adjourned at noon until Hoc p.m. on
Saturday, August 25th, for the double
purpose of hearing tlie Recording
vSecretary read the minutes, and also
of hearing the Rev. T. W. Pearce give
an account of the proposed Robert
Morrison Centenary Memorial.

Tlie Conference reassembled on
Saturday evening at S.oo }) m. The
Chairman reviewed the work of the
Conference and rejoice«l at the way
in which the difficulties that had
arisen at their earlier sessions ha<l
been successlully solved in the later
sessions. One united church would
be a great force in this new China.
Christians would be encouraged to
find themselves in the ranks of an
exceeding oreat army, and the Chinese
outside would realise, as hitherto they
could not, how great a force was at
work in their midst.

'i'he Recording Secretary then read
the minutes of the Conference as
already reported above, and these were
duly endorsed with the following
addition : —

" That in the event of similar action
being taken in other parts of China
this Federal Council be the Divisional
Council for North China," and it was
decided that the}' be printed for dis-
tribution.

As the hour was already advanced,
the Conference adjourned until Mon-
day at 5.00 p m., when the Rev. T. W.
Pearce gave his address on the Morri-
son Memorial. The Conference ser-
mon was preached on Sunday evening
by the Rev. F-. W. Burt, M.A.. on the
prayer of our Lord. "That they all
may be one." (John xvii. 29).

Tl'e following is the *' Outline of
Tentative Scheme of Federation " re-
ferred to in ^lethods, clause 6 : —

Title.— The Federation of the Chris-
tian ChuTches in China.

Object. — To Federate all Christian
Churches in China with a view to
closer union hereafter.

Methods — ist. — The formation of a
representaiive council in ivhich the
native church luould be strongly
represented, to meet annually in
<lifferent parts t)f China in turn.

It would probably be necessary to
have a series of councils, ranging
from district and divisional councils,
meeting frequently, up to the council
representative of the whole field. But
whatever plan may ultimately be
adopted, it is necessary to recognise
the need of the full co-operation of
the native church, and its adequate
representation in all conferences or
councils.

2nd. — The appointment of two cor-
responding secretaries, one native and
one foreign, who would .serve as a link
between the various missions and
churches now at work throughout the
Kmpire. These secretaries would be
appointed by the representative coun-
cil to hold office for one year, or until
the appointment of succes.sors.

It shall be their duty to act as the
recognised medium of communication
between any one or more missions or
churches and all the rest on (piestions
l)earing on the subject of Federation,
or in any way tending to promote
union.

3rd. — The representative council
.shall have power to appoint com-
mittees to deal with such matters as
those enumerated under the next
heading, viz., that of Work.

Work. — To encourage everN-thing
that demonstrates the essential unity
of Christians, as e.g. :

I. — Union in educational work.

2. — Mutual division of territory to
avoid overlapping. Free interchange
of members. Occupation of vacant
fields.

3. — Compilation and use of a I'nion
Hymn Book.
# 4. — The use of common designations
for street chapels and places of wor-
ship, without the addition of anv
foreign name.

5. — The use of common terms for
God and the Holy Spirit.

6. — The encoura^'ement of the con-
sideration of all questions likely to
lead to the extension of Christ's King-
dom in China, such e.g. as Translation
and Literary work, Social work,
United ^Missions of an evangelistic
character, etc., etc.

652

The Chinese Recorder.

[November, 1906.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

At Niiigpo, 17th September, to Rev.
and I\Ir.s. W. J. DohhrTv, C. I. M.,
a son (Percy John).

At Norwich, Conn., U. vS. A., 21st
vSeptember. to Mr. and Mrs. Brow-
NKLI, Gack, Yale Mission, Hunan,
a son (Robertson).

At Hwai-chinw, Honan. 27th vSeptem-
ber, to Dr. and Mrs. J as. Mknzirs,
Can. Pres, ]\[is., a daughter.

At Chang-teh-fu, Honan, 9th. October,
to Dr. and Mrs. P. C. Lkslik, Can.
Pres. Mis., a son.

MARRIAGES.

At vShanghai, ist Octol)er, Rev. C. D.
IIkrriott, a. p. M., and Miss
Ltuan Taylor.

At Shangliai, 5th October, INIr. F.
MoNCH to Miss K. Wartmann,
both of C. I. INI.

At Hongkong, loth October, Dr. R.
WoLFKNDALK. L. M. vS. , Hankow,
and I\lrs. Maroarkt Stkrn.

At Peking, i6th October, Rev. C. W.
KASTLKRand MissTHKonoKA .Mur-
ray, Blind INIission, Peking.

DEATHS.

At Chang-li, 23rd September, the
infant daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J.
h Kkkler, M. K. M.

At Nanking, 4th October, Ltlltak
infant daughter of Rev. and Mrs. J.
K. Williams, A P. M., aged one
3'ear six weeks.

AT Tokyo, 15th October, Rt. Rev.
Bishop Schrrk.schkw.sky, A. P.
R. C. M., Japan.

At Yiinnan-fu. October, iNIrs. J. Gra-
ham, C. I. M.

ARRIVALS.

At vSfianc.hai : —

2Sth September. Mr. and Mrs. W. B.
PkTTUS, International Committee V.
M. C. A.

29th September, Dr. YotiNO J.
Aij.F.N. M. P: M., vSo. (ret.); Mi.ss A.
R. Morton (ret. ), MissP^ C Dickik,
:\Iiss Lucas, Mi.ss D. Taylor, Rev.
and Mrs. C. R. ScoTT, Dr. and Mrs.
\V. P:. Robkrtson, Dr. F. J. Hall,
all for A. P. M.; Rev. R. A. Hkck,
Rev. H. F. Lkqup:ar, Mi.ss A. H.
Kannk, Mi.ss R A. Spanglkr, all
Ref. Ch. in the U. S. Mis ; Rev. F.
Bankhardt, Miss L. Snydrr, Rev.
and Mrs J. F. Buchkr, all M. R. M.;
Rtv. and Mrs. vShkrman, Mr. Stkw-
akt. Miss Hart, all A. P. P). C. M.;
Rev. and Mrs. J. HuTSOX and three
children.. C. I. M. (ret.)

4th October, Messrs H. R. Stubr.^
and R. H. MaTThkws, C. I. INI.

9th October, Rev. and Mrs. W.
IMacNaughton (ret.). Miss R. J.
MiLLKR, M.D., Rev. J. P. Hay. U. F.
C. vS. M.; Mr. and j\Irs. J. W. Wilcox,
and Alisses R. D. BknnrTT, R. vS.
Birch, and M. Mollrr, C. I. M. ; Mr.
and Mrs. Rd Rvans f ret.), Miss A. M.
Todd, Mi.ss J. A. Markiott (both
ret.), M. K. M.; Rev. W. N. Bitton,
h M. S. (ret.)

I2th October, Rev. and Mrs. C. F.
Ltnd.strom, a. p. R. C. M. (ret.);
Miss H. Watts, Miss R. Mp^tcalfr,
Christian Mission (ret.); Dr. Francrs
Cattrll a. p. M. (ret.)

i6th October, Rev. and Mrs. Chas.
Leaman, Miss Leaman, Miss Lucy
Lraman, a. p. M. (ret.); Rev. G. B.
Batrd, Rev. and .Mrs. INIrndrnhall,
Miss A. R. Carter, Miss Ward, in-
dependent.

1 8th October, Rev. aud Mrs. C. J.
Nklson, Mr. and Mrs. P. MaTSON,
Sw. Am. .Mis. (ret.); Mr. and Mrs.
KiLRN, Luth. Breth Mis ; Mr and
Mrs. Such, IMisses Rasmussrn, K. and
M, MiTCHRLL, all returning.

23rd October, :Messrs. Thos. Dar-
LiNciTON, Thos. Hamilton, H. G.
JMacRvvan, G. R. Metcalfe, David
Miller,ArthurMoore,P.C.Plumbr
and A. B. Portway, all for C. I. M.

24th October, Dr. R. Brebr, .M. R.
M. (ret.)

DEPARTURES.

F^ROM Shanghai : —

29tli September. Miss R.]_Sti<:\varT,
Independent, for Rngland.

2nd October, Mr. and Mrs. J. N.
Hayward and three children, C. I.
M., for Plngland.

5th October, Rev. and Mrs. A. R.
Grrening and family, R. B M., for
Rngland, via U. S. a' ; Mr. and Mrs.
Sutton, W. M. S., for PIngland.

15th October Dr. J. ¥. Grk.gs, A.
P. M., for U. S. A.; Miss M. K. Wil-
son, M. P:. M., for U. S. a.; Mr. and
Mrs. T. L. Blalock. Gospel Mis., tor
U. S. A ; Mi.ss I. Grosrth, Hangr's
vSy. Mis., for U. S. A.; Rev. and Mrs.
J.^P:. Williams, A. P. M., for Japan.

i9lh October, Miss Fer(;u.son,
Chris. Mis., for Rnglrind ; Rev. H.
S. Phillips, C. M. S. for Rngland.

2oth October, Mrs. F. Traur and
Miss K. Stayner, C. I. M., for
Rurope.

23rd October, Rev. and Mrs H. W.
HouLDiNG.S. Chihli .Mis., forU. S. A.;
:Miss MOOMAU, A. P. M., for V. S. A.

" TAI.MAGE memorial"
THE UNION MIDDLE SCHOOL OF AMOY.

(See page 684.)

t^^^

STUDENTS, 1906.

/

THE CHINESE RECORDER

AND MISSIONARY JOURNAL.

Published Monthly by the American Presbyterian Mission Press,
18 Peking Road, Shanghai, China.

Subscription $3*50 (Gold $1.75) per annum, postpaid.

VOL. XXXVII. DECEMBER, 1906. NO. 12.

The Religion of Intelligence.'*

BY PROF. BORDEN P. BOWNE, LL. D.

FOR many years I have been repeating the words of the
Creed, "I believe in God the Father Almighty," but I
have never repeated them with such satisfaction and
deep conviction as I have since I left home and have seen other
nations and other races with different customs and ways of
thinking. I repeat them with satisfaction for two reasons : ist,
the human problem is so great and so vast that all our human
wisdom seems unable to cope with it, and only God the Father
Omnipotent and Omniscient is equal to its solution. We see
so short a way, our wisest statesmen, our profoundest thinkers
know so little of what is to come. Meanwhile humanity is
driving stormily along its perilous way, and no one can tell
what the end is to be. Omens of ill can everywhere be discerned
as well as bows of promise ; and in this uncertainty it is great
relief and comfort to fall back upon the thought of God, the
Father Almighty. He has made the earth and He must guide
it, and because He is the Almighty Father we may believe that
the end will be good. Through the confusion, the uncertainties,
the strifes, the wars, the overturaings, through graves, and
ruins, and the wrecks of things He is leading our race on to
higher and more abundant life.

And the second reason why I repeat the words of the. Creed
with such satisfaction is found in the oneness of humanity
which I more clearly discern as I move around the world.
After all, Chinese human nature is very like American or

*An address delivered before the Chinese Y. M. C. A., Shanghai,

654 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

English or German human nature. God has made of one blood all
nations to dwell upon the face of the earth. This conviction of
the divine Fatherhood carries with it the fact of human brother-
hood with its inalienable rights and inevitable duties, and I
rejoice more and more in the fact.

In general, the question of religion has a much better
standing in the intellectual world than it had years ago. At
one time it was not uncommon to find critics and theorists who
looked upon religion as an adventitious excrescence upon human
nature, and without any real significance for human life. So
much so, that they thought it would be a decided gain if
religion could be finally exorcised. This view has passed away.
Religion has come to be recognised as a great human fact ; for
good or evil, man is religious. Religion is no invention of
priests or politicians, but is something rooted deep in humanity
itself. Again, it was thought by many that religion has signi-
ficance only for the future life, that this life might perhaps get
along quite as well without it as with it, but further study has
shown that religion is profoundly significant for this life, either for
good or evil. There are religions that debase and defile ; there
are religions that industrially cripple and politically paralyse
the people. The forces that make for evil or for obstruction
have in many cases incarnated themselves in the people's
religion, and there can be little industrial progress, or social
development, or political improvement until the grip of these
religions has been broken. And on the other hand, religion
may be a great source of progress, of illumination, of inspiration,
both for the individual and for the people. Our thought of God
has profound significance, as well for the life that now is as
for that which is to come. This changed point of view is
everywhere apparent to one acquainted with the course of
thought in the last twenty-five years. I never so fully realised
it before as I did a year ago at the World's Fair in St. Louis.
I attended there an International Congress of Art and Sciences,
the members of which were scholars from all over the civilised
world, and I was greatly impressed by the fact that whenever
religion was mentioned, or whenever any question arose that
directly or indirectly bore upon it, the references to religion
were all of a friendly kind. It was taken for granted as a great
human nature culminator, as a fact having the same warrant as
all other human facts, to be studied, therefore, sympathetically
and with an open mind.

1906.] The Religion of Intelligence. 655

The Christian attitude also toward the non-Christian relig-
ions has greatly changed in recent years. Christians them-
selves have been slow in understanding the truth and glory of
the Gospel, the good news of God. For a long time it was held
that God was good only to those to whom the Christian revela-
tion had come, and that all others were unconditionally lost.
But now we have learned that God is not made good by the
Christian revelation, but only declared and shown to be good ;
He has always been good ; He has always been the Father
Almighty, and has always had purposes of grace concerning His
children, whether they knew Him or not. The God who has
been dealing with all past generations, your ancestors and mine,
is the God of Grace, whom our Lord has revealed, and they are
still in his hands.

Similarly, Christian thought has changed concerning the
great outlying non-Christian systems ; these also were thought
at one time to be evil and only evil, and without any value
whatever for their adherents. Accordingly, it. was the fashion
to deride and decry these religions, to emphasise their short-
comings and failures, and to oppose to them Christianity in its
ideal form. But now we find it possible to think of Confucius,
Mencius, and Buddha and many another as having done an
important work among the people for whom they wrought, not
indeed making anything perfect, but preparing the way and
contributing much to the organization and development of the
people. And this, too, should not surprise, still less offend,
any Christian, for we are told that "a portion of the Spirit is
given to every man,'' that '^ there is a light that lighteth every
man that cometh into the world ; " that *' God is no respecter of
persons, but that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh
righteousness is accepted of Him." With this faith and our
conviction that the world always has been in the hands of God,
we are not surprised but rather delighted to find traces of divine
guidance and inspiration in other than Christian lands. This
does not mean, of course, that thesft systems are perfect or final ;
on the contrary, criticism shows how far from perfect they are
and that they never could build humanity into its best estate ;
but it does mean that God has not been absent from the religious
history of the race and has never left Himself anywhere without
a witness. The sun does not envy the stars, yet they disappear
in the brightness of its shining ; so Christianity does not envy
any of these lesser lights but gathers up into itself all their

656 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

illumination, so that they, too, disappear in the brightness of its
shining. And if one should point to the aberrations of these
other religions in disproof of this view, the obvious remark is
that Christianity itself has gone astray in not a few times and
places, sinking now and then to as utter superstition as could be
found in sorcery or incantation.

But now it may be asked, has Christianity after all anything
of special value to offer. We find great ethical wisdom in Confu-
cius, deep spiritual insight in the Persian Scriptures ; the
Ethics of Aristotle is a good text-book to-day. Moral and
religious wisdom is by no means confined to the Christian
Scriptures. In what then does the superiority of Christianity
consist ? The answer is that the great significance of religion
depends upon its doctrine of God ; what He is and what He
means ; its doctrine of man also, what our human life is and
what its destiny is to be. These are the fundamental and
central questions, and various religions might have many
ethical maxims and spiritual insights in common and yet differ
widely on these points. Christianity has not added very much
to our Ethics, but it has added greatly to our knowledge of God
and man. The great, loving, righteous God stands revealed
with His purposes of grace for men. The meaning of man's
life and destiny is made clear, and man as child of God is given
infinite value. It is in this realm that the great contribution
and the great originality of Christian revelation lie. Christian-
ity has thought, a greater and more inspiring thought concern-
ing God and His purposes for man than any other religion has
conceived, and has made that thought historic and the source
of historic unfolding to an extent unparalleled elsewhere ; and
it is this thought which we, as Christians, have to make real
for others to whom it has not yet come. What they need is not
a text-book on ethics but the " good news " of God.

Religion can begin with almost nothing, but it can have
a normal unfolding only under appropriate conditions. Religion
is no simple and changeless thing, but it is a function of
our whole nature and varies with our development. Intellect,
heart, conscience and will alike contribute to our religious
conceptions. Hence when there is little mental or moral
development the religious instinct can cling to a stick or
a stone or some low and hideous animal ; but as life unfolds and
intellect is clarified and conscience becomes regnant in our
religious thinking, it then appears that there are certain

1906.] The Religion of Intelligence. 657

conditions that must be met by any religion that is to command
the assent of developed humanity. First of all the object
worshipped must be something which satisfies the intellect.
As I have just said, when intellect is asleep almost anything can
be made a religious object, but when intellect is awake and
alert and thought has done its work, it then becomes impossible
for the intellect to worship any being lower than the Highest.
True religion aims at the perfect and will have the perfect or
nothing. When our insight is scanty we may content
ourselves with very imperfect notions, but when once the
larger vision comes, the older conception must either be
abandoned or must be enlarged to meet the newer insight.
This fact does away with all low superstitions ; they flourish
only in the darkness of ignorance. But when the mind has
been nourished on the great truths of science, the great
revelations of world study and historical and philosophical
study, it becomes simply impossible for that mind to rest
in any of the forms of idolatry. Such a mind may make the
motions of religion for selfish or other reasons, but it never
really worships in any temple where the God is lower than the
Highest. And if it be said these images, etc., are but symbols,
the answer is the same. No developed mind can find any
worthy symbol of the Highest in animal forms and idolatrous
rites and practices. The intellect stands in such a temple
either silent or scoffing. For the developed intellect God is a
Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth. This fact is fatal to idolatry in all its forms,
conceived as the religion of intelligence. Only the Perfect
Reason will be tolerated by intelligence as its object of worship.
And equally religious development must take the direction
of affirming not only a supreme reason but also a supreme right-
eousness. As a matter of fact, humanity has been distressingly
slow in uniting the ethical and religious ideal, and historically
there has been a great deal of religion that was either non-
ethical or immoral, the two factors, the religious and the
ethical, being brought into no vital union. We see this in both
the ethnic religions and the non-Christian universal religions,
and we see it also even in Christian lands. A great many
people who ^ are Christians in name and who verily believe
themselves to be such seem to have little thought that their
religion makes any demands upon their conscience, and that
it should root in and result in righteousness. And yet one ot

658 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

your Asiatic prophets a great many years ago came to this
insight, in the great utterance: "He hath shown thee, O
man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of thee
but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly
with thy God?" It is only in the Christian religion that
we find the religious and the ethical factor indissolubly blended.
The failure to unite these two factors is the great source
of the hideous and destructive aberrations that have defiled
religious history and made many religions the enemies of
humanity. All these must vanish away when conscience is
awake.

And not only must the object of worship be supreme
reason and supreme righteousness, but He must also be supreme
goodness. It is at this point that religious thinking has often-
est come short. If God is to be of any religious value to us and
an object of real and adoring worship, He must be supremely
good. This demand has by no means always been understood,
and in consequence we find a kind of subconscious effort in
religious development to think a truly ethical thought about
God. The outlying religions have largely conceived God as
indifferent and selfish. The gods of Epicurus were deaf or
indifferent to human sorrow. The God of philosophy has
largely been of the same sort, a kind of absolute metaphysical
being, with no active moral quality, or, if moral at all, in an
abstract and unreal way. Likewise, the God of theology has
hardly attained to any real active goodness, such as the
thought of ethical love implies. This God, too, has been rather
metaphysically conceived, and His holiness consisted mainly
in making rules for men and in punishing their transgression.
He was conceived largely after the fashion of the mediaeval
despot, and the conception of any obligation on His part to his
creatures would have been looked upon almost as blasphemy.
But now we have begun to think more clearly and profoundly
as to what ethical love demands, and with this thought the
immoral and indifferent gods have disappeared, and the God
of theology, also, has been greatly modified. The rabble of
gods has vanished like ghosts at the dawn before the clear
gaze of conscience, and not a little traditional theology has also
withered away. We have seen that the law of love applies to
power as well as to weakness, that the strong ought to bear the
burdens of the weak and not to please themselves, that the
greatest of all must be the servant of all and the chief of burden

1906.] The Religion of Intelligence. 659

bearers. This insight has already wrought a great change in
our traditional theology, and we are gradually coming in sight
of the Christian truth involved in the incarnation. We no
longer have an absolute being selfishly enjoying Himself, or a
simply benevolent being, giving gifts to men at no cost to
Himself, but we have a great Father in heaven giving His Son
for our redemption, entering into the fellowship of our suffering,
bending over humanity in an act of infinite cost and pain, but
divinely bent on doing the divinest things at the instance of
infinite love. Let us think for a moment of this Christian view
and its world-wide difference from all others. We have no
absentee God, or selfish God, or indifferent God, but we have a
God of infinite grace and compassion, supremely concerned for
us, carrying on a great campaign for the establishment of man
in righteousness, creating souls to whom He can communicate
Himself in blessing for ever and ever. We have a God who is
the chief of burden bearers, and the leader of all in self-sacrifice.
We have a Saviour who, being in the form of God, thought His
equality with God not something to be insisted upon, but
humbled Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant that
He might reveal God to us and lift us to God. We have
the Holy Spirit abroad in the world, enlightening, inspiring,
strengthening, and comforting men, and building up a great
divine kingdom in which God shall be all and in all. In
comparison with this there is nothing great beside, whether in
earth or heaven. The revelation of grace is complete, and
religious thought has reached its highest perfection ; and we
may be assured that the human mind will never be content
with any lower thought of God than this. We might not have
reached it for ourselves, but now that it has been revealed we
see that the ethical perfection of God and His real goodness
are bound up in this Christian view. In one sense we may say
God has never done anything for men which He was not under
moral obligation to do, for goodness does not consist in tran-
scending duty and outstripping requirement, but consists rather
in doing divinely what divinely should be done. Love will be
content with nothing less, and Divine Love can do nothing
more.

It is but an extension of the same thought when I add that
the final religion must be one that has a worthy thought of man
and provides a task for him which will furnish the will with
an adequate object and a supreme inspiration. We might

660 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

conceivably get along withont any religion, but when thought
is once awake we see that a religion which is to command our
lives must be one which brings man also to his highest estate.
We cannot believe in man without believing in God, and we
cannot believe in God without believing in man. God's good-
ness itself would disappear if the religion did not mean our
highest life and blessing ; and if our life is to end with the
visible scene and we are to be cast aside like the worn-out straw
sandals that the coolies wear, then religion itself collapses, the
universe is a failure, and God is a failure, too. It is not a
selfish interest on our part which dictates thoughts like this. It
is rather the desire to think worthily of God and of His work,
and that is impossible so long as we fail to think worthily of
man and of his destiny in God's plan. Here again the non-
Christian religions have largely come short. They have not
been able to think consistently and in such a way as to carry
conviction of the destiny of man. They have wavered between
annihilation and a dreary round of undesirable existence, with no
power to awe or attract. And here again Christianity is a
revelation of supreme significance and magnificent audacity.
Looked at from the outside we are animals like the other
animals, having the human form, indeed, and yet subject to
the same general laws as the animal world — birth and hunger,
pain and labour, weariness and death. But our Christian faith
holds that this is only the outward appearance, not the inward
spiritual fact. We are now the children of God, and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And
thus our life is transformed ; we are not simply the highest in
the animal world, we are also and more essentially children of
the Highest, made in His image likewise, and to go on for
evermore with Him; made, as the old Catechism has it, '^to
glorify God and to enjoy Him forever", growing evermore into
His likeness and into ever deepening sympathy and fellowship
with the Eternal as we go on through the unending years until
we are "filled with all the fulness of God."

Now let us gather these thoughts together. I said the
great significance of Christianity lies in its thought of God and
of man and of our destiny. We now have some faint conception
of what that thought is, and we see how far it transcends in vital
and vitalizing power anything elsewhere to be found. These
"truths of manhood darkly joined" elsewhere show hints and

1906.] The Debating Club Method. 661

glimpses of the truth, but they become " current coin " only in
the life and words of the Redeemer and in the spiritual kingdom
which He founded upon the earth.

These are the things you as Christians are to teach. It is
not an envious scuffle between rival religions that you have on
hand, it is rather a revelation of the good news of God which
you are to make. You are to let your light'shine and tell men
what God is and what He means, and by your own lives yoVL
are to let men see what the grace of God can do in the heart
and life of men. And your efficiency will depend very largely
upon this last thing, for, after all, not very much is done by
argument and discussion ; they have indeed their place, but the
real work of life is largely done by living ; and the truths of life
are propagated less by teaching than by a divine contagion
which infects those about us. When we do this work in this
way, our lives will not be without influence ; we shall live, yet
not we, but Christ will live in us and Christ Himself will be
formed in us the hope of glory. Indeed it is only as Christ is
thus formed within that there is any hope of glory, for the animal
contains in itself no promise of immortality. But man is not the
animal only ; he is also the child of the Highest, and because God
lives, man shall live also. May this good news speedily spread
over this great land until all China's sons and daughters are
singing the glad songs of Salvation and working the works of
God as sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.

*' Breathe on us breath of God
Till we are wholly thine,
Till all this earthly part of us
Glows with thy fire divine."

The Debating Club Method.

BY REV. J. E. WALKER, SHAO-WU.

ONE of a few missionaries, spending the hot months on a
high mountain at the bac^ side of the Fookien Province,
I find time; for sober thought on various problems, and
quiet for a review of the past with an eye to improvement in
the future. Among other things I have been pondering over
vietJiods employed in controversy ; and especially what I have
styled above '' The Debating Club Method."

When I was a youth in a frontier college town on the Pacific
Slope we were in many respects a little world by ourselves,

662 The Chinese Recordei. [December,

much thrown on our own resources for intellectual develop-
ment, and among these resources the Debating Club occupied
a prominent place. Doubtless all are familiar with its methods.
A question was chosen and two disputants appointed, who each
chose a second. At the debate a week later the question was
discussed by these and such others as chose to take part, and
two judges and the president of the club decided which side had
made out the best case. The contest was quite as much for
mastery as for inquiry into the merits of the case ; and each
side sedulously affirmed and magnified everything that would
count in its favour, while controverting and minimizing every-
thing that seemed to favour the other side. Whether con-
sciously or not they practiced the maxim, *^ Meet your opponent's
reasoning with ridicule and his ridicule with reasoning;'* and
sometimes when a bright youth made his debut as a debater
and was beaten, he would exclaim, '^The other side weren't
fair." Of course "the other side" did not give fair and candid
consideration to the facts adduced by the young debater ; that
was for the judges to do, while its business was to controvert and
its object to win. The debating club was good for sharpening
one's wits, but not conducive to candor.

But there was one youth who, first in the academy and
next in the college, excelled as a writer and a speaker, and
especially was popular as a presiding ofiicer ; yet in the debating
contests he was apt to be passed by. He cared too much for a
full and accurate knowledge or all the facts and a correct inter-
pretation of them.

But in employing the title that I have I do not mean to
insinuate that any one has resorted to the Debating Club
Method in the discussions that engage our attention here in
China; I only wish to emphasize this query, "Is there not a
warning in it for us?" Would it not be a good thing for us
to look it squarely in the face and say : "Get thee behind me
Satan " ? Nobody likes to give up beaten ; and while I dare
not accuse others of being unduly eager to win, I must confess
that for myself I find it hard, in a discussion, to keep my mind
entirely free from such feelings and hold steadfastly to this one
question, "What is the Truth?" Are we not inclined to
dwell and dwell on the facts that seem to support our views
and magnify their cogency and force till they loom up like
mountains, while we minimize the arguments advanced by the
other side till they seem to dwindle into mole hills ? We also

1906.] The Debating Club Method. 663

belittle the objections to our beliefs till they seem mere flaws,
but dwell on the objections to the other side till they look like
impassable chasms. We think we are defending the truth ;
but really is this a good way to get at truth ?

When in my youth I began to look into religious con-
troversies, I was surprised to find what seemed to me a lack of
fairness. The opposing sides all seemed to misrepresent each
other. But later in life I concluded that much of this was due
not to unfairness but to inability to understand and appreciate
each other. Such a thing as this is sometimes best seen by
taking a case where Christian kindness and brotherly goodwill
do not come in to mitigate or cover up its real character. Such
was the accusation made by the Asiatic Jews that Paul taught
men everywhere to forsake the Law of Moses. Was this
deliberate and intentional slander on their part ? Probably
not ; though their motives may have been malicious enough for
even this. But to their view, if Abraham's seed needed the
purifications and the merit of "the works of the Law,'* how
much more sinners of the Gentiles ; and when Paul contended
everywhere and unbendingly that the Gentiles were free from
the practice of circumcision and all the rest of the Mosaic ritual,
he seemed from their point of view to have thrown the whole
thing overboard and to be perniciously busy in leading the
Jews to apostatize. And the ground on which Paul based his
contention only confirmed them in this view : "If the Gentiles
need not keep the Law because it was only a temporary enact-
ment for the purpose of preparing the way for Christ, who was
the reality of which the Law was only the shadow, why need
anybody keep it?" Yet Paul himself dearly loved those
forms of worship in which he had been nurtured from infancy
by godly parents and devout teachers ; and only a Spirit-filled
man could have observed them so fondly himself, and yet risk
his life in defense of Gentile freedom from their observance.

Mental associations are mighty in such matters. A young
lady, accustomed from childhood to the administration of the
Lord's Supper in its simplest form, but after marriage attending
at a church where the Episcopal form was observed, found that
one of the hard things to give up was this simple form of the
Holy Communion. Yet there are members of other communions
who are almost shocked when they see for the first time this
form which was so sacred to that lady. So in regard to terms
for the holy Spirit : theoretically, I think that Sheng Ling is

664 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

just as available a term as Slieng Sben, yet after using the
latter and rejecting the former for thirty odd years, the first
attempt to substitute the former affected me disagreeably. But
I find that by repeatedly associating the two phrases Sheng
Ling and Ling Hwun in my mind, the former phrase gradually
takes on the desired meaning. It is the ideas, the thoughts and
emotions which we associate with words and forms that give
them their meaning and value for us ; but these associations
once formed are hard to break.

Hence some one has said that the foreign missionary should
leave his conscience at home ; that is, he must break up many
of the mental moral associations which he had formed at home
and recast his standards for the converts of other nations and
from other faiths. A boy once told me that there was swearing
in the Bible, referring to Nehemiah xiii. 25, " made them swear
by God." This was fifty years ago on the western frontier,
where profanity was very common ; and for him that phrase in
Nehemiah was so wholly associated with profanity that it could
have no other than a profane meaning. I, too, found it hard to
disassociate it from its current use among the irreligious.
Somewhat like this we find in the Old Testament, Jer. xxiii.
33-40, that the phrase, "The burden of Jehovah," had been
so perverted by the false prophets that God prohibited its use.

Again, both among Jews and Gentiles the eating of the
•sacrifice was part of the worship ; and it was only " the strong "
among the converts who could disassociate the two and eat of
things that had been sacrificed to idols. But Paul, in Romans
14, preserves the golden mean. "Let not him that eatetli
set at nought him that eateth not ; and let not him that
eateth not judge him that eateth. . . . who art thou that
judgest the servant of another ? . . . Let every man be fully
assured in his own mind. . . . The faith which thou hast have
thou to thyself before God. . . . But he that doubteth is
condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith ; and
whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

One missionary has written that the Chinese have no con-
science ! But others say : "They do have a conscience, but only
use it on others and not on themselves." So also the scribes
and Pharisees saddled heavy loads on others, but would not lift
a finger's weight themselves. This is the very contrary-opposite
of what Paul enjoined, that we must have convictions, but that
they are to be for ourselves and not for our neighbors. His

1906.] The Debating Club Method. 665

own convictions were so kindly and catholic that in many
things he could "become all things to all men ; " and yet they
were so firm and clear cut that he was unflinchingly strict with
himself; and in bringing his own body into subjection, he
struck straight home and did no beating of the air.

In this matter of controversy I had an experience in my
youth which, though trifling in itself, has been of great value
to me. Myself and another pupil in the academy got into a
discussion about the motions of a wagon wheel. He said that
* the bottom of the wheel must move forward with the same
velocity as the top, or the whole wheel would fly to pieces.' I
said that each part of the wheel must stop stock still for the
instant that it was in contact with the ground, and then grad-
ually increase its forward motion till, when it reached the top,
it would be going forward just twice as fast as the wagon did.
After much arguing we got a chance to try it with a wagon
wheel. We marked the top and bottom of a wheel and pulled the
wagon ahead about a foot. The top mark had advanced almost
two feet and the bottom mark less than one inch. He shook
his head and looked suspicious as if I had played some trick ;
and so we repeated the experiment, giving the wagon a little
longer pull, and the top mark advanced very much farther than
the bottom mark. He looked dumb-founded, yet slowly gave in,
and we started for the academy, about ten minutes' walk away.
But we had not gone half the distance when he suddenly stopped
stock still and exclaimed, " No, it cannot be ! If the top went
faster than the bottom, the wheel would fly to pieces. ' ' I gave
him a bland smile and held my peace. Years afterward I saw
this question submitted to the Scientific Amer-ican for an answer,
which was: " Some see it one way, and for them it is that w^ay ;
and others see it the other way and for them it is the other
way." The editor had evidently had some "experiences."

That lad was no cross-grained crank ; he was genial,
musical, bright in his way, a consistent Christian boy and
frank and square in all his dealii%s ; but he could not see two
things at once. He could not think out the combined results of
the forward and the circular motion of the wheel. He
represented a type of mind that is enthusiastic and decided
and valiant in defense of what it thinks is right ; but such
minds are not good guides in the settlement of complex
problems. In fact, such problems do not seem to exist for
them. They see one important phase of a subject, and to their

666 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

minds that is all there is to it. They are often called obstinate,
and even unfair, when in fact they are just as anxious to be
fair and reasonable and right as are those who possess a more
judicial cast of mind. Some of the greatest heroes and reformers
seem to have been men of this type ; they saw one great truth to
be taught, or one great wrong to be uprooted, while no percep-
tion of the temporary harm to many good things that would
necessarily be incident to the reform abated their ardor. Many
of the sturdy pioneers on the Pacific Slope were men of this
stamp. An Eastern teacher in 1838 when he heard that a
former pupil of his was going to Oregon as a missionary among
the savages exclaimed, '^She is just the woman to cross the
continent on a wild buffalo." However it was only a horse back
ride of one hundred and twenty-nine days. But it was a sad
sight to see persons of this stamp keeping at peace with rollick-
ing, irreligious hunters, and quarrelling injuriously over the
details of the work for which they had surrendered everything.
The sharpest quarrel that I knew of was between two most
successful missionaries. But they became very warm frieiids ;
for they were both of them brave and generous, and had only
misunderstood each other. They had brought things to a
desperate pass by their quarrel ; but one morning they met in a
room by themselves, bitter antagonists, and what passed between
them no one knows ; but at evening they came out perfectly
reconciled ; and the work took on new life.

But now in regard to our controversies, it may be said that
they concern matters in which all have a share, and a wrong
course pursued by one will make trouble for all. It is not like
the case of the wagon wheel which will run right of itself, and no
one thinks of trying to make it run according to some pet theory.
But is not this all the more reason why we should be thoroughly
catholic in our treatment of each other's views ; listen not only
for what the Spirit has to say to us, but also for what the Spirit
may be saying to another ; not smite him on the cheek and say
" which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to thee?"

What a terrible experience it was for Saul the persecutor to
find that he had been wrong, radically, outrageously wrong ; the
Spirit has mercifully drawn a veil over those three days of
darkness at Damascus. No such experience is required of us ;
but it is hard to say "I have been in the wrong," and perhaps
harder still to "give up beat." I found it quite a struggle to
give up beat, and acknowledge that I had erred in so far as I

I

1906.] Sunday School Organization in China. 667

had opposed the use of Shen for God ; but our younger preachers
in this field have taken to using Shen in writing, and even
sometimes Djen Shen in prayer ; and I can now honestly say
that I like it. It adds something to the depth and richness of
their language and to the fullness of their thought and sentiment.

In this field Shen is not in use in the colloquial ; through-
out the whole region Pu-sa is the generic term for objects of
worship, and we do not hear the common people use Shen in its
stead. This is perhaps one reason why our younger preachers
take to Shen in writing but not in preaching. It is to them a
W^n-li word.

My change of sentiment in regard to Shen and Djen Shen
has not been the work of one day or one year ; but a most potent
factor in this change has been the consideration which has been
brought forward again and again in the Recorder, that the
experiences of 1900 proved conclusively that both terms were in
successful use. In scientific research the final appeal is experi-
ment. Experiment has conclusively proven that the advocates
of each term were correct in what they affirmed, and mistaken
in what they denied ; and I am not going to be like my fellow-
pupil who, when convinced by a twice performed experiment, did
not stay convinced ten minutes. But my first change oi feeling
was when I decided never again to say a word against Shen for
God, lest I should wound the feelings of those to whom it had
been consecrated by decades of successful use, and the martyrdom
of much-loved fellow-workers ; and now I wonder why I was so
slow to see and feel this sentiment.

Sunday School Organization in China.

BV REV. W. C. WHITE, C. M. S., FOOCHOW.

THE ideal Sunday School organization does not concern
us so much at this time as any organization whatever
that will be practical and efficient to meet the present
needs.

In this connection four things stand out most prominently : —

1. The organizer and superintendent.

2. The people who are to be organized into a Sunday
School.

3. The courses of study, and

4. The teachers.

668 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

I. THE ORGANIZER.

In central stations where foreign missionaries are residing
there need be no difficulty about finding an organizer, as the
missionary would naturally take the initiative, unless over-
burdened, as so many are, with existing work that must be
done.

Our Chinese brothers, if left to themselves, would never
organize Sunday Schools, though this is not to be wondered
at when we remember that for hundreds of years the Christian
church in our own lands, though she had the Sunday School
idea, had no vSunday School organization. The difficulty, then,
is to get the Chinese pastors, catechists, and school-masters to
inaugurate the Sunday Schools in the hundreds of congrega-
tions away from the direct influence of the missionary.

The problem for the future would be met if all the colleges
and schools for catechists and teachers would instruct their
students in a very practical way how to organize and to teach
a Sunday School. The key to the problem lies with the
theological colleges, and in this connection nothing less than
a normal Sunday School training will be at all adequate for
the importance of the subject.

But the problem immediately facing us is to get our present
staff of Chinese workers to begin these Sunday Schools, so that
each congregation, large or small, will have at least once a
week a meeting for the systematic and direct study of the
Word of God when, instead of one man declaiming and ex-
horting, each person will have a work to do in searching the
Scriptures, and when the soul's needs of the little ones in the
flock will be specially attended to.

It seems to me there is no better way than for the super-
intending missionary to deal personally with each catechist or
teacher at his own little chapel or home. It should be impressed
on each man how important is this work, and that it is his
bounden duty to do something in the matter, and there on the
ground the special circumstances of that congregation could be
dealt with and direct arrangements made for the commencing
of the Sunday School, even to setting the date of opening.

Direct personal conversations of this kind will make Sunday
School organizers of nine-tenths of our present native staffi

Give them the idea and work out the arrangements to
suit their particular chapels, and they will at any rate begi7i
the work.

1906.] Sunday School Organization in China. 669

Whether the school holds together and continues to be
effective is another question, depending a great deal upon the
Chinese superintendent, and also upon the keenness for, and
close oversight of, the Sunday Schools by the missionary, who
must do the work of a general superintendent of Sunday
Schools and must himself be keenly interested in the work
before his Chinese colleagues will take a live interest in it.

II. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TO BE ORGANIZED INTO THE
SUNDAY SCHOOL.

The Sunday School should be the Bible studying service of
the church, and as such ;its object should be primarily to instruct
the Christians, and the children of Christians, in kuowledge
of the Bible. Our Christians have not the helps to Bible
study that we have, and there is the more urgent need that
they be grounded in Bible knowledge, and because of this there
will not be much danger of our limiting the Sunday School to
children only. It would not be a difficult matter to take the
church register, go over all the names and divide the best
instructed Christian men from the least instructed, which would
make two classes, and the women and boys and girls into other
classes. This class arrangement would be far more profitable
than the usual practice of the catechist himself haranguing the
whole body of Christians as in a regular service, for besides
dividing the labour and getting the Christians to share in the
work, the particular teaching could be applied to suit the needs
of each class.

Where the congregation is scattered so that only the
grown-up male members of the family could come to the central
Sunday School, some system, such as the Home Department,
could be started in connection with the regular Sunday School.

But although the Sunday School is primarily for the teach-
ing of the Scriptures to Christians, it can become a strong
factor for evangelistic work, perhf^s not so much for adults
as for children. The Christian children would be the nucleus,
and it would indeed be strange if before long their heathen
playmates did not come with them to the Sunday School class.

A difficulty would be to secure regular attendance. 'With
the children if has been found that small picture cards, such
as are used at home, have attracted large classes and kept them
in regular attendance. The cards need not be new, but such

670 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

as are discarded at home, and they conld be re-used in the
work here, by perhaps every ten cards being received back in
exchange for one large card or picture sheet.

A consideration of the best time to suit the local conditions
would also affect the regularity of the attendance. In large
congregations it may be better to have the Sunday School in
the afternoon separate from the main morning service, but on
the whole it is probably better, where, as is usually the case,
some of the Christians have to come long distances, for the
Sunday School to be held just before the morning service, so
that all could attend.

Class registers will be a very great help, and no Sunday
School can be carried on systematically or effectively without
them.

But as at home so in this land nothing will keep the
Sunday School together so well as the teacher's direct pastoral
work with his pupils ; looking them up when absent, visiting
them in their homes and keeping in constant and close touch
with them.

III. THE COURSES OF STUDY.'

This is a large subject that should be dealt with by itself,
and is only touched upon here because no Sunday School can
be satisfactorily started without putting a suitable course of
study into the hands of the teacher. At the present time this
is one of our greatest needs, and there are cries on every side
for suitable courses. The courses used in the home lands are
all being tried, and all are found more or less wanting to satisfy
the present needs of the church in China.

We do not select lesson courses first and then choose the
pupils these courses will suit, and the teachers who can
teach them. We determine first the nature of our Sunday
School students, classify them wisely and then select and adapt
the course of study best suited to their needs. It is perhaps
because of our failure to recognise this that our home courses
are found unsatisfactory when applied to the present conditions
here in the field.

The International Sunday School Scheme is perhaps the
one in most general use, but it is only in the schools and colleges
that this seems at all satisfactory, and even then there seems
to be great drawbacks. The International Scheme is mainly
expository or exegetical, the taking of passages of Scripture,

1906.] Sunday School Organization in China. 671

more or less complete in themselves, and explaining their
teaching. The great lack in this is the teaching according to
the topical method — the developing of a doctrinal theme — and
because of this many Sunday Schools in the home lands now
teach two lessons at every session of the Sunday School ; the
topical or general Bible Lesson comes first for about ten minutes,
followed by the International Lesson for twenty to thirty
minutes as time will permit. By this means a broad grasp of
fundamental Christian doctrines is obtained, as well as that
depth of Bible knowledge which can only be had by a minute
study of the Word.

On the whole it seems advisable that several courses of
study should be drawn up to meet the varied needs of the many
conditions of Christian life we find amongst the Chinese converts.

The local conditions would decide which course should be
used, and these courses should not be fixed by dates, but for
grades.

It is hoped before the end of the year that this Committee
will have permanent courses prepared in convenient sheet form,
suitable for the different grades to be found in our congregations.
A course of the first importance is one suitable for children and
adaptable for enquirers, and this has already been taken in
hand in a series of lessons on the Life of our Lord.

One very effective plan for first course in the primary
Sunday School has been to take very simple hymns, such as
*' Jesus love me ; " on each Sunday teaching children to repeat
a verse by heart, to sing it and to explain simply the main
teaching of the verse. In this connection the Committee are
preparing illustrated sheets of simple lessons for infants.

IV. THE TEACHERS.

The problem of teacher supply and teacher training is one
that lies at the heart of the Sunday School question.

We do not here attempt to go into the matter of normal
training, but simply suggest what fcould be done in the way of
supplying teachers at the present time to begin Sunday Schools.

Given an organizer and superintendent, which would
naturally be the catechist or teacher of the little church, having
wisely classified the scholars, and the suitable courses of study
being ready at hand, the only thing that remains is to get the
requisite teachers. These must of course be drawn from the
most intelligent of the Christains, without respect to their length

6/2 The Chinese Recorder, [December,

of time in the church. There will be the usual plea of ignorance
and inability to teach, but the catechist should overrule this by-
arranging for a teacher's class once a week, when he should
teach these men the lesson they would teach the following
Sunday. This should be religiously and regularly done, even
if there be only one teacher besides himself.

For broader and more systematic training the Sunday
School teachers could be invited to gather together, for a day or
so of special study, at the quarterly meetings of the church,
when the missionary could help them as to comprehensive Bible
study, the use of helps, laws of teaching as applied to I ible
work, the study of human nature, the possibilities of modern
Sunday School organization, and other such subjects.

A special course of study for teachers only, in which they
would be examined, and perhaps prizes given, might be an
incentive to them, but for a beginning nothing too hard and
apt to discourage them should be attempted.

It is possible some may say that since good teachers are not
yet available, therefore Sunday School work should not be
organized. In this connection it would be well to bear in mind
the saying of Martin Luther. When twitted with having very
inferior men as his fellow-labourers, his reply was, "If you
cannot get the best horses to do the ploughing, you must plow
wdth the ones you can get.*'

A Missionary Grave.

IN MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. A. G. JONES.

^^ A S I approached the spot it seemed so bare and desolate,
/A just like the other Chinese graves about it, that it
made me sad. I thought that it was typical of his
life, spent, as it was, working in rough, obscure places among
the Chinese. But as I came nearer I saw that the top of the
grave was covered with morning-glories, and I was comforted by
nature's sweet parable. It is pleasant to think that, after a life
of unselfish toil, he rests with our other friends in the Morning-
glory Land." (From a letter.)

Hard by the alien city that he loved,

In far Cathay he Ues.
Rock-scarped and gray, behind him watch the hills

Of hoary old Shantung.
North-ward the green plain stretches, vast and far,

That teeming villaged plain,

1906.] A Missionary Grave. 67}

Where men have toiled and sinned and laughed and wept

For thrice a thousand years.
Another voice is stilled of those that cry

In that sad wilderness
Proclaiming^ to the weary sons of men

"The Kingdom is at liand ! "

Then one who loved him stood beside his grave

And saw its roughness clothed
With that same beauty which the Master praised.

For over all the mound,
Their pink bells open wide to greet the day,

Wild morning-glories blew.
So, blessed with eyes tliat see, his friend took cheer

From Nature's parable.
For even so he lived and wrought among

The lowliest of the low.
Men saw him leave the ways that lead to ease

And consecrate his all.
Some called him mad because he chose to toil

Among the mean and poor ;
Nor did they reck that in tho.se sordid souls

He saw God's starving sheep.
They did not care that, leaving all, he trod

The foot-steps of his Lord.
No narrow zealot he. His nature stood

Four-square to all the world.
With kindly ear the peasant's tale he heard,

He wept with those that wept ;
Anon with gowned pedant held discourse

Concerning sage's lore.
The oJ0&ces of hospitality

It w^as his joy to do.
He was a man, — knightly among the knights

Of this, the Last Crusade.
Upon his shield were blazoned ancient words ;

" All things to all, — to save."

From midst of labors for the souls of men

God called him swiftly home.
He knew no lingering pain. High on the breast

Of China's sacred Mount •
Where Yao and Shun uplifted reverent hands

In the dim days of old.
Amidst the mid-night crash of elements.

His noble spirit passed.
And thus, in deathless joy, the man who walked

The humble path of love
Inhabiteth henceforward with his Lord

God's Morning-glory Land.

W. P. C.

674 The Chinese Recordei. [December,

• Psalmody in Foochow.

BY REV. C. S. CHAMPNESS, M. E. MISSION, FOOCHOW.

THE three Missions working in Foochow city and the
northern part of Fukien province are happy in having
possessed in the earlier part of their career a band of
missionaries who performed most useful service in translating
and writing hymns for the Chinese church. These Missions
have always worked very harmoniously together, and much
useful work has been done on union lines in the province.

I purpose giving here some of the hymns which are widely
sung in all the three churches.

Fukien province was fortunate in having been the working
ground for some years of the great evangelist and hymn-maker,
William C. Burns, the mighty mission preacher of Kilsyth,
Scotland, who at the call of God left all and came to China.
He was the first translator of many of the hymns which are found
in all Chinese hymnals, as used all over China. He evidently
believed in Luther's principle of enfolding Christian doctrine
in popular hymns. Besides the many excellent translations
of English hymns that he produced. Burns also wrote several
original hymns in Chinese for the special purpose of teaching
Christian doctrine in a form which could easily be retained in the
mind of the people. The first of the popular hymns of Foochow
hymnals that I would mention is his well-known hymn

3GL pg H n -

glj S fr « ^ » « .?! « ir^ ^ m $5 # a g^ ^ A # fr

m '< i^ \km-m^ >& » m ia » it m « 't ':&i^^'^
fr B* '^i' ^ n * ^ * iT> €5 n ^'&m m^L-^^ m ^ic

S SiJ ^ * H ?S- A « 1 W ^ » ^- fl9 B ^, S 1A ^ S
5c Jl g^ 1^ H ± in Mt ff ^ ^# H S ?4 ^ « 1A II la ^;f

This hymn is a good example of a colloquial hymn, using
Chinese characters in a certain way to express colloquial words.
Such a use of Chinese characters is of course strongly condemned
by the literati, who object to characters being used to express
purely colloquial words and sounds, but it is necessary if we
are to produce Christian literature in a form that the people

1906.] Psalmody in Foochow. 675

can understand. For the benefit of those of my readers living
in Mandarin-speaking provinces I will endeavour to explain the
use of certain of these colloquial characters.

^. This character is used with the meaning of "this'*
without a numerary adjunct being used. 'JA is the character
used to express the colloquial word for "man," Neng, the
character used most commonly in Mandarin books being reserved
for Wen-li use and pronounced "ing." -j)^. This is a special
form of 5C 3.nd bears the same meaning. It is pronounced
"bo." ^ Dioh is used in Foochow colloquial in several
meanings. Here it is the sign of the imperative, mood. ^T^ is
the commonest negative. It is pronounced "ng." In com-
bination with 5(5. it forms the negative imperative.

Another fine hymn, probably by Burns, is that which is
the number one of the Methodist collection. It is also the first
in the American Board Hymnal. Alas ! Foochow has not yet
managed to accomplish what Hankow and other places have
done and have most of the churches using the same hymnal.
It is a pity to have two separate books in use where one would
have done equally well. This hymn describes the work of
God in creation and His providential care. It is marred,
however, by the use of the term J^ ^. in speaking of the
creating work of God, which term, of course, applies more fitly
to the atoning work of the Son. fc ^ or ^ g would have
been more applicable in this connexion.

mmmMmBmmMm mmv^ m t^ i^ ± '7& nt a it :^ m ^

It doubtless looks strange to see JiJ as a rhyme to ^, but in
Foochow colloquial this word fof the first personal pronoun is
pronounced " nguai. {\^ is pronounced "dang," and means
"at the present time." ^ |Sf ta-gaik is a colloquial expression
meaning "clean." This also is an example of the use of
authorised characters in an unauthorised way, to which scholars
object so strongly.

Some years ago when making an index to all the Chinese
hymnals I had in my possession I was much puzzled to find in

676 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

the Presbyterian hymnal edited by Drs. Nevins and Mateer,
used in North Shantnng, a hymn which was the composition
of Charles Wesley. While not begrndging onr Presbyterian
brethren the use of a good old shouting Methodist hymn, like
this one, I wondered how such a ranting hymn had found its
way into the staid Presbyterian book. On further search I
found the same hymn in the American Board Peking Hymnal,
the work of Drs. Blodget and Goodrich. Here again I was
puzzled, and remained so until I came to P^ikien province,
when I found the hymn in question in both the Methodist and
American Board collections. The hymn is a tran.slation of
Charles Wesley's "O how happy are they who the Saviour
obey. And have laid up their treasure above." What has
evidently happened is that this hymn was translated by one of
the early Methodist mi.ssionaries to Foochow, adopted by the
American Board •Mission and then used in North China, first in
the American Board ]\Iission by some missionary who had seen
the Foochow version of the same, from whence it was taken for
use by the Presbyterians. As I have said before I do not
begrudge the other churches the use of a Methodist hymn,
but do wish that it had been inserted into some of the
Methodist collections in North China. The old Negro song has
the lines, "If there is one thing I like the best. It is the shouting
Methodist," and then goes on to say : " I do believe, without
one doubt. That a Christian has the right to shout." I by no
means claim for the Methodists the sole right to shout if they
feel good, and am glad to see that the Congregationalists and the
Presbyterians have got so well worked up that they enjoy
singing this fine old hymn. There is no doubt about the
shouting of this hymn as we get it in our churches in Foochow.
Our people always enjoy singing it. The hymn and the melody
to which it is sung I give herewith. The melody is a fine
Pentatonic one, but rather hard at times to sing, on account of
the wide compass from D to F.

:k m m ^ ^ ^ R5J lf# m K

a m -x ?# ^ )Pa ^ n ^

190 6.] Psalmody in Foochow. 677

t—^-b T i-T— i-4— l-i— f-1 r h-^T—'— ^-^-T-^-J— fT-J-n

Here again a few more explanations of characters are
necessary. j|| is a word used to express the meaning of '^can/*
**does.** It is pronounced ''a,'* or rather a better idea of its
sound would be given by the combination of English letters
**a-er'* spoken in the Foochow seventh tone, which is a tone of
an exceedingly curly nature. ^ is used to express the same
meaning as ^ "has not." 3Jf means ''end, finish." ^ is the
most commonly used word meaning "to have." It is used in
Foochow colloquial, where y^ is used in IMandarin. /§ is the
commonly used word for house. ^ deu takes the place of
the Mandarin ^. -^ i is the third personal pronoun. ^ is
frequently used for the first personal pronoun, while i^ is the
second personal pronoun.

In a recent number of the RECORDER Rev. J. E. Walker,
of Shao-wu, printed the melody of a tune of his, which is one
of the most popular hymns of the church in Fukien. This
tune is a splendid example of what a Pentatonic tune should
be. It is very fine to hear a big congregation singing this
tune, even if they do now and then sing it in a way of their
own. If I could succeed in making a tune that is so popular
as this I should be proud. The hymn to which it is set I
give here : —

O H ■* —

— t^ ^ ia — *(»■ iii-I m -h -tl^ .f > til rrt?? fin Sh a?» W -ftj- tSt -«• -Jk- «». tSh =^ *n n 4U. l «*^ :;:7; =«»

I have given samples of a few well-known hymns used in
Foochow, and had I the space at my disposal I could give
several other good hymns here.

One of the three hymnals in use suffers from bad editing.
After my critical study of many hymnals I am sure that
Foochow has not a monopoly of this trouble. Many hymnals
have suffered in this way. In this particular book there are, for

678 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

instance, three versions of Watts' hymn, ''Alas! and did my
Saviour bleed ! " In one case this hymn is indexed as *' We are
worthless mortals! '* There are two versions of "A charge to
keep I have ; " one of them being indexed as " My soul be on
thy guard. ' '

The indexing of this book leaves much to be desired.
There is no proper Chinese index going by the number of
strokes in the first character, and in the English index the first
lines of some well known hymns have been printed in a mis-
leading way. For instance " Lo ! He comes with clouds
descending," appears in the index as "See He cometh ! "
*'0 for heart to praise my God" appears as '* Awake my
soul to praise my God." "For ever here my rest shall be," is
indexed as "The Saviour shed His precious blood." The
editor could not have possessed a very profound acquaintance
with English and American hymnology who allowed such
mistakes as these to pass.

In many hymns printed in Foochow Hymnals there appears
some sad mangling of accents and rhythms. For instance, in
the book spoken of above in the hymn "There is a wideness
in God's mercy," a hymn with trochaic rhythm, the possessive
particle " gi " (jt), answering to the INIandarin particle ftfj, comes
on a strong accent ^ i M. ,@, j^- M ^ Jt-

In a translation of a favorite hymn largely used in America,
** Leaning on the Everlasting Arms," in the third stanza the
two characters 2p ^ occur. They are actually allowed to be
divided by the caesures in the middle of the line. One is
reminded of the little girl who said it was wicked to cut off dogs'
tails, because what God had joined no man should put asunder.

In a hymnal recently published in Foochow among several
very excellent translations the following example of painful
literalness appears. The original is the well-known hymn from
Sacred Songs and Solos ( ' ' Lord, I care not for riches. Neither
silver nor gold.") The translation runs i ^ ^ § fi -81 St>
which equals the historic translation of the line " Go, bury
thy sorrow" ^ g iff. 6^ g 5^,.

One is also reminded of the peroration of the great sermon
of the minister of Pittendreigh, which closed with the words,
** Am I a goat ? Amen ! "

It is possible to produce excellent idiomatic hymns in
Foochow colloquial. This has been done in some cases. The
Anglican Hymnal in Foochow possesses some excellent

1906.] Conference Notes. 679

colloquial hymns, and in the Methodist Hymnals there is also
some fine work. On the whole the hymns of earlier days are
better translated and written than those of later date.

I conclude with a fine hymn found in the Methodist
Hymnal. I wish that some other tune than Migdol had been
set to this hymn, as the constantly changing accents of this tune
are impossible for the Chinese to render correctly. The hymn
resembles in form Miss Havergal's ' * Lord, speak to me that I
may speak.''

-tJ :?^ 31 0 H Z —

f^mt^^m §) 'C' it: ^ ;^j- ^ie ^ in n ^ie ± n m M^<&nn±^mn^
M. n ^. ifi -^ ni^ oic '{^ -i t:V3im^i m Mi^m m ^m^mmm^f&^m
^ -^ m n ^nr ^ m ^^ m ^mn^m:^ ^m r^ ± n ml ^ i ^J ^' m a n
:^ ife # ^ m ^i i& -^\m ;r- M. ^ m m -x n h vk i.t m^a^^-^m^'^^
^^i # mmik M yh )''■' P m{i^^\^nnmm^ )^ '^ if w ^si mn^,%n%^
m 1^ m v^^^mtuia^mi^m ¥- ^f ^ ?^. m w .ix ^>^ e it ir. ^-^m .^'. i^ %
^^=^ sk m m tw ^ m ih m "^ 'i:^* ^ m mm ^ n^e^ "^ ^ ^n ^tA A '\L^

Conference Notes.

BY REV. G. H. BONDFIELD, HON. SEC. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

RECKNT meetings of the Executive Committee have been
mainly occupied with the organization of the Programme
Committees, with correspondence and other details.
Arrangements are progressing, as will be seen from the following
notes from the minute books: —

(i). The programme has met with very general approval and
the work of the Committees is well advanced. Some of the papers
are already drafted. Each chairman, however, has to submit his
paper to the members of his Committee before it will be printed and
ready for circulation. It is hoped that all the papers will be in the
printer's hands early in February. Delegates who desire to have
copies of these papers should send in their names, so that the papers
may be posted to them as soon as they are ready. A charge suffi-
cient to cover printing and postage will be made for each paper.

(2). Further details of the pr(%ramme have now been filled in.
The Conference is to commence on Thursday, April 25th, and
the proceedings each day will begin with a devotional service
from 8.30 to 9.15 a.m. Visiting ministers are to be invited to give
the addresses. The Conference sessions will be from 9.30 to 12
and 2 to 4.30,

(3). A series of meetings will be held in the evenings in the
Town Hall, and to these meetings the non-missionary public will be

680 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

specially invited. On the evening of April 26th Dr. A. H. Smith
will give his lecture, *'A Centennial Survey." On the 29th the
Rev. T. W. Pearce, I^. M. S., Hongkong, will lecture on *' Robert
Morrison," and on four other evenings addresses will be given on
missionary topics by some of our distinguished visitors from home
and by missionaries on the field.

(4). Delegates and visitors will be welcomed at a reception by
the Shanghai Missionary Association on Thursday evening, April
25th. A special praise and thanksgiving meeting will be held on
April 27th, and a farewell meeting on the evening of May 7th. It
is hoped that an organ recital in the Cathedral may also be
arranged.

On the two Sundays — April 28th and May 5th — special
services will be held in the various Protestant places of worship.
Visitors from the home lands will be asked to preach the sermons.
Evangelistic services will also be held in the theatre or Town Hall.

(5). Last year the Executive Committee invited the Home
Board or Committee of each Society working in China to send a
representative to the Conference. The response, especially on the
part of British and Continental Missions, has not been so general
as was anticipated. The Committee, however, has received notice
that the following will probably attend the Conference : —

From America: — Rev. Judson Smith, D.D. ; Rev. N. Dwight
Hillis, D.D. (A. B. C. F. M.); Rev. A. B. I^eonard, D.D.; Rev. J. F.
Goucher, D.D. (M. E. M.); Rev. J., Fox, D.D. (A. B. S.); Rev.
A. S. Lloyd, D.D. (A. P. E. C); J. R. Mott, Esq.; Hon. John
Wanamaker ; Bishop Wilson (M. E. C. S.) ; Rev. A. E. Kittredge,
D.D. (R. C. A.).

From Europe :— Rev. J. Brandtzog (N. L. C. M.) ; Rev. J. H.
Ritson (B. F. B. S.) ; Rev. R. W. Thompson ; Rev. F. Bolton ; Rev.
F. Lenwood (L. M. S.); Sir A. R. Simpson ; Rev. Hubert Simpson
(U. F. C).

Other representatives are reported to be coming, but no official
notice has been sent to the Committee. Missionaries would do well
to advise their secretaries to notify the Committee at once if repre-
sentatives are likely to be sent out.

(5). The question of accommodation is now occupying the
attention of the Committee. Inquiries are being made as to the
number of delegates that can be received as guests in private
families and accommodated in boarding-houses. No statement can
be made at present ; but it is quite clear that for the majority special
arrangements will have to be made. Whilst the Committee cannot
be expected to take the responsibility of providing accommodation
for non-delegates they will do their utmost to secure room for all
by establishing temporary hostels. Missionaries (other than dele-

1906.] Educational Department. 68 1

gates) who intend to come to the Conference should write at once.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the Committee have no funds
with which to provide accommodation or entertainment, and that a
charge (which they hope will not exceed $2 or $2.50 per person per
day) will have to be made. Further particulars will be published as
early as possible.

(6). Where the appointed delegates are unable to come, the
names of substitutes should be sent in at once.

(7). The Committee will be glad to hear from missionaries who
are stenographers and typewriters and who are willing to assist the
secretaries during the Conference. Much help will be needed.

With the near approach of the Conference the Committee are
increasingly conscious of the need for prayer, so that all arrange-
ments may be divinely ordered. The responsibility rests upon the
whole missionary body. Let there be prayer for wisdom to make
the most of our Conference and to make it tell on our future work.
Our gatherings should not only be fruitful in discussion and in far-
reaching plans, but also in inspiration and power.

Educational Department.

Rev. a. S. Mann, Editor,

Conducted in the interests of the *' Educational Association of China."

Vernacular Schools and Vernacular Education.

BY REV. P. W. PITCHER, AMOY.

THE new system of education which has been inaugurated
by the Chinese government, resulting in the abolition
of the official literary examinations (producing the
greatest revolution the world has ever seen) and the adoption of
a highly commendable national system, composed of graded
courses from the primary school •to the university, to take the
place of that hoary time-honored system that has held this
nation like an iron vise for more than twenty centuries — the
opening of schools and colleges in every part of this land, even
turning temples into school-houses — has not only put a new
aspect on the whole missionary problem, but has changed
completely the question of the importance of vernacular schools
and vernacular education. For many years the opinion has

682 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

prevailed that there was no place for such schools or such
educatiou. Anglo-Chinese colleges swept the boards, leaving
only the crumbs for these institutions. English and English
alone was the cry, and English alone was furnished to supply
the demand. These institutions flourished while the vernacular
schools waned and waxed old. And it appeared at one time as
though they must vanish entirely. But in a moment all this has
been changed. At the present time no educational institution
nor curriculum apparently is in greater demand or promises to
play a more prominent part, or has a more promising future in
the development of the intellect of China and in producing all-
round educated men — men for business, men for church work,
and men for all the professions — than vernacular schools. In fact
it would seem that they must ever increase in number and import-
ance while all others (purely as such) must likewise decrease.
If one can read aright the signs of the times, we certainly have
entered upon a period when vernacular schools and vernacular
education will stand foremost and in their proper places.

But vernacular education has a new and broader meaning
than it formerly had. It means something to-day that it did
not even five years ago, not to mention fifty or one hundred
years ago. The nature of the new education has been partly
shown in the Chinese Recorder for July, 1906. The study
of Chinese, as one branch of this education, is not to be confined
to memorizing pages of unintelligible, profound and artistic
phrases, but by means of reading lessons on subjects such as
natural history, anecdotes, every-day business affairs, fables,
patriotism, international relations, religion. It will mean the
undermining or transformation of Confucianism and that the old
'' kun-chu " or superior man has had his day.

That the people appreciate this new and broader meaning
of education is also shown in the same magazine. 355,000
copies of a First Reader already sold, and in the space of a year
and a half 158,000 copies of a Girls' Reader have been sold. In
1904 one firm sold over one million school books. 1905 must
have witnessed sales even beyond these figures. And it may be
assumed that this people will more and more appreciate it as
they come to understand it better. Hence we may expect,
under the new rkgime^ the same sacrifices, the same unyielding
efforts that they put forth in former days to win some coveted
though less worthy prize. If this be so, then there will be no
better, more thoroughly educated man than the Chinaman.

1906.] Educational Department. 685

The problem is now, How are we to meet this opportunity ?
How is the Christian church in China to meet it ? It will not
suffice, nor in any degree meet our responsibilities to say :
Leave the whole matter to the Chinese government to carry out
to the fullest extent the admirable scheme it has instituted.
Admirable as it may be, to make it successful will require a
peculiar skill and wisdom to guide and direct it. It is the
church's duty — have we not " come to the kingdom for such a
time as this "? — not only to support this national movement but
so to guide and direct its course that it will ever be a channel
of blessing unto this people everywhere. Here, too, is the
church's supreme opportunity to teach that "the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge," and that without it
education has no real, solid, lasting foundation.

Probably no national influence will continue to be felt so
much as that of Japan. All honor to her for what she has
already wrought in this matter. And if Japan were a thoroughly
Christianized nation, we might with all propriety and confidence
leave the development and the direction of this movement to
her. But she is not, and it thus becomes the responsibility of
the Christian nations of America and Europe to see to it that so
far as lies in their power this system of education shall bear the
stamp of Christianity. If Christian missions — the representa-
tives of the Christian churches in Europe and America — can
succeed in meeting the educational demands of the time, and
for the next fifteen years lead and control this movement, the
entire educational question of China will be settled for all
time to come.

There is another point to which we must briefly allude. It
is this. While we recognize the fact that the primary aim of
Christian missions is not to provide institutions which shall
prepare men for government positions, or for commercial life,
yet if we can help to do so by a proper adjustment of our
curriculum (neither sacrificing the Chinese or the English to
accomplish it), and if at the sam^ time we can implant in the
hearts of these millions of young men the seeds of the truth of
Christianity at this very impressionable period of their lives, it
seems to me that this would be about the best missionary work
we could possibly engage in. Such institutions are then not
mere centres ^of learning, but become evangelistic centres. At
the same time we only do our duty when we provide institutions
giving a Christian education for our boys of our churches, which

684 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

will educate them just as thoroughly and just as efficiently,
and to just as high a standard of scholarship as the nation
provides in its purely secular schools. We must at least, as
Christian evangelists, see to it that all our schools of all grades
fulfill a higher purpose than mere centres of secular influences.

For the next few years therefore our greatest effort, it seems
to me, should be directed towards these vernacular schools
under mission control. They should be brought up to date in
every way, furnished with the very best equipment and with
curriculums as far as possible conforming to the government
schedule.

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL OF AMOY.

For a quarter of a century the Mission of the Reformed
Church in America (in union with the English Presbyterian
Church Mission) has maintained a vernacular school of the
Tiong-oh grade (pf* i^). Being one of the few institutions of
its kind that has had so long an uninterrupted history, it may
be of some interest to know what has been accomplished
and where it stands in relation to the new educational move-
ment at the end of twenty-five years of service.

BUILDINGS.

The **Talmage Memorial," where the work of the school
is conducted, bearing the name of one whom this Mission will
ever hold in cherished memory, was built in 1894. ^^^ style
of architecture is plain and massive, yet most simple in detail,
well adapted for an educational institution. The building,
composed of brick and stone-granite, has a frontage of seventy-
five feet. In the rear is a wing extending back forty feet,
making the extreme depth seventy-six feet. It is so situated
that it admits entrances from different levels. Thus one of the
side entrances is on a level with the basement floor, while the
front entrance is approached by a flight of stone steps. The
building comprises both class-rooms and dormitories. There
are twenty-eight dormitories providing comfortable and healthful
accommodations for sixty or eighty boys. There are three
spacious recitation rooms, a very large study room, a chapel, a
dining room, wash room, kitchen, and a room for physical
exercise.

The Principal's residence stands just behind the " Talmage
Memorial'* in the same compound, comprising nearly an acre of

1906.] Educational Department. 685

land, and located on the crest of a small hill called the *' Little
Eastern Mountain." Being in such close proximity to the
school the missionary in charge is brought in very close touch
with the students, which indeed is a great advantage in
many ways.

CURRICULA.

Its present curriculum has been a growth, or perhaps more
correctly a development, from a number of curricula. At
first it was a vernacular school very much of the Romanized type,
that is to say, that outside of the Classics and the Bible, all the
text-books on Western subjects which were used in the school
were printed in the Amoy Romanized Colloquial, viz.,
geography, Chinese history (compend), physiology, astronomy
(elementary), arithmetic, and algebra. Romanized Colloquial
had the preeminence.

After one or two minor changes (in 1894 and 1901) the final
adoption of the present curriculum took place in 1904. The
course was made to cover five years instead of four by the
introduction of many new subjects, viz., English (as a subject),
Mackenzie's History of the 19th Century, physical geography,
pedagogy, natural philosophy, biology (elementary), and several
new books in the Classics, while the requirements in all sub-
jects were vastly increased both in the entrance exanihiation*^
schedule and the regular work in the course. Another change
made at this time, which should be noticed in passing, was in
regard to text-books, viz., from Romanized to character. All
the text-books on Western subjects now taught in this school,
excepting arithmetic, algebra and physiology, are in character,
such as Mackenzie's 19th Century, Chinese History (compend),
geography, physical geography, natural philosophy, biology
(elementary), and astronomy.

Let me point out that English occupies the very same posi-
tion in this curriculum as it does in the government schools cur-
riculum, viz., as a subject. That I believe is its rightful position.

(For a complete list of subjects taught, see separate sheet).

ATTENDANCE.

From 1 881 -1887 no records were kept of the attendance,
that is, the yearly enrollment. But we are safe in saying that
the entire enrollment from 1881-1906 has been all of 350. We

*Boys are required to be fifteen years old (Chinese reckoning) and to pass
a prescribed entrance examination.

686 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

were progressing finely as a pure unadulterated vernacular
school until 1897 (then we reached our highest enrollment,
viz. , sixty-two boarders), when we were struck by the English
education cyclone, and we went down before it. We struggled
along for another seven years until our numbers dwindled down
to thirty-three. Finally English was introduced in 1904 and
the numbers increased immediately to sixty-one.

But our numbers have never been large. The average
yearly attendance for the twenty-five years has been barely forty.

RESULTS.

Taking into account only the last twenty years the total
number enrolled has been 297.

Of these 89 have pursued the full course of four years.

166 have studied from one to three years and then left.
42 are still connected with the school.

297

Among the native churches they have been distributed
as follows : The South Classis have sent 128, the North Classis
161. Scattering 8. 155 were representatives of the A. R. C.
Mission constituency, 134 of the E- P- M., and 8 scattering.
For further information the following is added : —

Died 30 Went abroad 28 Licentiates i

Ent'd business 19 Teachers 45 Medicine 42

Farmers 9 Preachers 45 Unknown 16

Pastors 9 Ent'd Anglo-

Chinese
Colleges II

Thirty-three of the number engaged in the practice of
medicine have had. hospital training, either here at Amoy,
Choan-chiu, Chang-poo, or Eng-chun.

Over sixty per cent, have advanced to other courses of study,
about forty per cent, have engaged in distinctive church work,
and thirty-six have graduated.

What of the future? We believe that all such schools
from the primary grade to the university have a future, that
their usefulness is not finished, but just begun. And to find our
middle school at this stage of its history so closely in line with
the present day educational movement is a source of no small
satisfaction. For such a course of instruction more nearly

1906.] Educational Department. 687

meets the demands of the hour than any other. By placing
greater stress on Chinese and less on English we are in a way
of producing more of the right kind of material that China is in
need of. The Chinese government evidently has recognized
this principle in inaugurating its present system. English,
French, and German have their place, but Chinese predominates.
In this matter China has undoubtedly been influenced by Japan,
which has always insisted on all instruction, in practical subjects,
being given in the vernacular. And as was pointed out in the
Recorder, June number, the diflference between the type of
education in India and Japan is this : in India the student as a
rule is a good linguist, but weak in practical knowledge ; in
Japan he may be poor as a linguist, but strong in practical
knowledge, etc. It is the latter type that China needs.
Practical education must have the pre-eminence, an education
that will not only enable a man to make a living, but that will
make of him a citizen capable of doing his duty in the great
commonwealth of which he forms a part. Any education that
unfits a man for that position unfits him for great usefulness,
and in the day of testing it will be revealed. What Arnold
Foster said in regard to this will bear repetition, though only
repeated a short time ago in the Recorder. In expressing a
hope that in the future all would ''realize a call to give far
more attention to Chinese than to English or any other
European language," he makes this very pertinent observation :
"It is to the Chinese scholars we are sent for the uplifting of
the Chinese people through those who are to do their lifers
work as Chinamc7t among Chinamen in the language of
China. ' *

Prof. Arthur Lloyd's weighty remarks in the June
Recorder, already referred to, will also bear repetition. "It
ought to be the aim of Christian educationists to push the
national system with all the strength they have, for therein lies
China's hope, and a good national system of education can only
be a help in the long run to the religion we believe. The time
will come in China, as it has come here (Japan ^, when the
special raison cT etre of mission schools will disappear. In the
meantime, and for many years to come, they will have their
places as training places for teachers. iVnd, it seems to me,
their work will be permanent or the reverse according to the
position they take up with regard to the question of vernacular
teaching." The only exception we would take to these words

688 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

is this, that we believe their sphere is a larger and broader one
than that of providing or training teachers. We may be
mistaken, but we believe we are just now in a position where
we may by wise and decisive action so seize the present oppor-
tunity that this educational movement shall be under our control
and direction for many years to come, from the day-school
to the university. Thus we may keep this powerful agency for
the transformation of China under the purifying and uplifting
influences of the Christian church. These are real possibilities.
What is needed is prompt action. The opportunity of to-day
may not be ours to-morrow. Opportunity, like time, waits for
no man. Development, enlargement, and the strengthening of
all vernacular institutions are the demands of the hour. And
not only preparation for the present moment is needed, but
preparation for the demands, ever increasing demands, of the
coming years, in order that the stamp and influence of a
Christian education . shall be unceasingly felt and recognized
upon the new thoughts and new aspirations which have already
become the possession of the young men of this great Empire.

For it is a Christian education alone that can uplift the
condition of men and purify surrounding environment.

THE AMOY MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. 1906.
First Year. English.

Scripture, Gen., Ex., Num. Drill.

Classics, Mencius. * vz. • ^ v

Poetical and Historical Books. Third Year.

Adthm^[f "^'' ^""^P"^^^^^"' Scripture, Esther, Job. Psalms.

Arittimetic. Classics, The Mean.

Geography Asia. Europe. Yo^x:,^^\ Books. Historical Books.

History of China, Compend. Literature.

Astronomy. Letter Writing, Composition.

Romanized Colloquial. V\vysx^^\ Geography.^

Map Drawing. Mandarin. ^ ^ ^

?"gl'^^- Algebra.

^^r^' Biflogy

Drill

Phy.sics (Steel's).
^ , -_ History, 19th Century.

::>eco7id Year, Romanized ColloquiaL

Scripture, Lev., Kings, Samnel. Drawing.

Classics, Analects. English.

Poetical Books. Singing.

Historical Books. I^rill.

J^i^.f ^^"f • . ^ .,. Fourth Year,

Letter Writing, Composition.

Arithmetic, complete. Scripture, Eccl., Daniel.

Geography, N. and S. America, Africa. Historical Classic, Historical Books.

History of China, Compend. Literature.

Physiology. Letter Writing, Composition.

Romanized Colloquial. Pedagogics.

Map Drawing. Mandarin.

1906.] Educational Department. 689

Algebra, Geometry. Literature.

Physics. Mandarin.

Physical Geography. Pedagogics, Practical Work.

History, 19th Century. Algebra, Complete. Geometry.

Romanized Colloquial. Physics.

Drawing, Singing, Drill. History, 19th Century.

Drawing.
Fifth Year. English.

Singing.
Scripture, Hosea, Malachi. Drill.

Historical Classic.

A Glance at Berkeley.

THE following letter has been received by this department
in reply to the review in the October Recorder of
'' Moral Philosophy'' by the Rev. W. M. Hayes, D.D.,
and we are glad to publish it. In order to give a clearer view
of the matter in controversy we give here a translation (our
own) of the passage criticized in the review.

Chapter I. Section 5. '* Why subordinate rules of con-
duct are sometimes at variance with the great moral principles.
.... Thirdly, sometimes men relying only upon vain theor-
izing do not know how to reach a basis of facts, and so the
principles which they assert are opposed to common sense. If
they took their principles and examined their truth, their
Tightness or wrongness would clearly appear. For example,
in England there was formerly Berkeley, who said that the
world has no sensible objects, but that men take that which
has no real existence as really existing, and have simply an
internal perception of it. This he wrote and published to the
world, and among those who saw his books a large number
believed it. But although this is so, yet whether he deceived
one man, or tens of men, or hundreds of men, he could not
deceive all men. Because if you place an object in a dark
room, then whoever enters will surely stumble over it. Thus
cannot all perceive that on striking an object one will receive
injury ? Accordingly his words qply rest on vain theorizing and
not upon a basis of facts. They are therefore not only based
upon false principles, but are contrary to the understanding of
ordinary men.''

A QUERY IN PHILOSOPHY.

A remark (see the October Recorder) in criticism of a
recent elementary work on ethics brings up the interesting
old question of the proofs for the reality of an external world.

690 The Chinese Recorder. [December,

The criticism is to the effect that a number of persons, each
receiving an impression of some solid object in circumstances
where nothing would lead them to presuppose the presence of
such an object, is no proof whatever of the existence of some-
thing of sufficient reality to produce this otherwise inexplicable
sensation. Barring the old answer that such a course of reason-
ing invalidates all science — for how can we postulate laws of
which the very existence is unknowable — it would seem that the
position of the so-called '' Christian Scientist" is also worthy
of attention. One party claims that any number of sensations
is no proof of the real existence of external objects ; the other
that our perceptions of certain sensations is no proof of the
reality of those sensations. Both unite in questioning the valid-
ity of the evidence adduced, and the practical wisdom of the
world evidently regards one as rational as the other. In philo-
sophy as in other matters names are sometimes perhaps allowed
to weigh too heavily, and the thought will arise that if the
names of the sponsors of these two theories could be suppressed,
and each made to stand on its merits alone, the open court
might have difficulty in deciding which was the more worthy
of credence. Divesting ourselves of all prejudice one seems
to have philosophically as solid a basis as the other. The
factor which stands midway and forms the nexus of the two
views is the sensation ; why is not the line of thought which
is regarded as impregnable on one side of this factor equally
valid when extended to the other ? And if extended to the
other side at what point does it lose its validity ; does it stop
with certain classes of psycho-physical concepts and leave all
other concepts as reliable foundations on which to build up a
philosophy? The presumption would seem to be that if we
deny the reliability of our sensations as affi)rding a rational
ground for the belief in the existence of an external material
world, then we must sooner or later reach in philosophy the
position already attained in religion by the agnostic, and like
him be defined as, ' ' The man who does not know that he
does not know that he knows nothing."

In saying the above the writer does not wish to be under-
stood as arguing in behalf of Christian Science ; he is likewise
too busy, even if he had the ability, to undertake a discussion ;
he only wishes to call attention to the fact that in modern
thought former lines have received what, for the West at least,
may be regarded as new applications, and unless the reliability
of our sensations is conceded, we should not hastily rule out
these new views as absurd. The standing of a theory should
not in ethics nor any other field depend too much on the names
attached to it.

Paroikos.

1906.J

Correspondence.

691

Correspondence.

STORIES OF CONVERSION.

To the Editor of
"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : A correspondent has
drawn my Society's attention to
the need of a series of short
tracts " giving the Ufe stories of
men and women who have really
passed from darkness to light
through the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ."

Many missionaries must know
of converts whose changed lives
have borne good testimony to
the faith. Such lives cannot but
be a help to the Chinese church
at large, and if any of your
readers can give us well authen-
ticated stories of the kind referred
to, this Society would be prepar-
ed to publish them in tract form.
Manuscripts should be in easy
Wen-li or Mandarin and should
not exceed two thousand (2000)
characters. While Chinese man-
uscript is preferred, English will
be accepted and translated by the
Society.

Yours faithfully,
H. B. Stewart,

Secretary^

Central China Religious Tract Society,
Hankow.

POWER FOR SERVICE.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Apropos of the
important question, "How can
three thousand missionaries meet
the arrogance of shallow reform-
ers, the floods of atheism, the
intellectual libertinism among
four hundred miUions .... ?"
contained in Dr. Osgood's ex-
cellent and suggestive paper in

the September Recorder, a
comment made recently by Mr.
Meyer, of London, will bear
repeating. Speaking on the
necessary power for service he
said : " Let us not say, ' I can-
not do this or that ;' nobody ex-
pects you to do it any more than
the lad was expected to feed the
five thousand with his loaves
and fishes. He gave them to
Jesus and He did it all."

Yours sincerely,
H. G. Barrie.
Toronto.

AGE OF converts.

To the Editor of

" The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : Very much agree-
ing with your remarks in the
September Recorder re sta-
tistics of aged people received
into church fellowship, I have
pleasure in sending you the
enclosed from my own Register,
trusting that many others may
respond, so that by the time of
the Conference you may have
gathered together a goodly re-
port.

Yours very sincerely,

A. H. Faers.

Suifu, via Chungking.

C. I. M. Sui-FU, W.

China

•

Males.

Females

Baptised between the ages

of 70 and 80 years

2

...

Baptised between the ages

of 60 and 70 years

4

...

Baptised between the ages

of 50 and 60 years

16

5

Baptised under 20 years of

age

ID

5

Average of remaining 100 at

baptism 32 years

...

...

Total membership 142...

(Signed) A. H. Faers.

692

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

CONFERENCE PREPARATIONS.
To the Editor of
''The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : It maj^ be remem-
bered that the Tientsin Mission-
ary Association has planned a
series of monthly meetings, tak-
ing up Centenary Conference
topics. I am permitted now to
report that the series was inau-
gurated on Monday, October 15th,
with a meeting which augurs
well for the success of the plan.
The evening was devoted to a
discussion of evangelistic work,
wnth two members of the Con-
ference Committee to lead — Rev.
J. W. Lowrie and Rev. J. Hedley.
Mr. Hedley reported suggestive-
ly on colportage and work for
Mongols. Dr. LowTie gave glean-
ings from his correspondence as
Acting Chairman of the Com-
mittee. Others joined in the
discussion. The members of the
Tientsin Association can guar-
antee that if this one evening is
a foretaste of the Conference it-
self, all delegates to Shanghai
have a rich treat in store.
Yours in anticipation,

Charles E. Ewing,
Sec. T. M. A.

north kiangsu-anhui famine.

To the Editor of

"The Chinese Recorder."

Dear Sir : The famine situa-
tion in the northern part of
this province has become so
serious that the missionaries
w^orking along the Grand Canal
have organized a famine relief
committee, to be called the North
Kiangsu-Anhui Famine Relief
Committee, for the purpose of
raising funds in China, America,
and Great Britain to relieve the
famine sufferers as far as possible.

I am enclosing the appeal of the
Committee to the public. It
tells its own story of hunger and
suffering. I am also enclosing
copies of letters from mission-
aries to the N.-N. Daily News
and private letters. It is the
request of the Committee that
you will kindly print their appeal
in the Recorder and such in-
formation from the letters as you
see fit.

An Executive Committee com-
posed of Revs. W. C. Longden,
Northern Methodist Mission,
Chairman ; A. Sydenstricker,
Southern Presbyterian Mission ;
Dr. J. E. Willia'ms, China Inland
Mission ; Mr. M. J. Walker,
Scotch Bible Society ; and T. F.
McCrea, Southern Baptist Mis-
sion, Secretary and Treasurer,
all of Chinkiang, have been given
the duty of raising the relief fund
and distributing it to the various
mission stations for the relief of
the sufferers. The Executive
Committee will have all funds in
their keeping and the Treasurer
will only draw checks upon their
order.

As far as possible the Relief
Committee wish to distribute the
money through relief works,
such as road building, etc.,
wherever the missionary force
is large enough to justify it.
Such questions, however, must be
settled as the situation is devel-
oped, according to the amonpt of
money contributed, the attitude
of the officials, etc. Every effort
will be made to see that the
money shall reach only the
worthy.

We wish to make several re-
quests of our fellow-missionaries
in China through your columns.
I. Earge sums of money will
be needed to meet this great
want. There seems to be no
doubt that several millions of
people will be face to face with

1906. J

Correspondence.

693

starvation during the winter.
As one missionar}' wrote recent-
ly after making a trip over
part of the devastated country :
"Nothing can prevent starva-
tion on a large scale, for I do not
expect to see millions of dollars
raised for distribution." We
ask our fellow-missionaries to
contribute what they can and,
where they think it advisable, to
raise funds among the Chinese
Christians. This seems a good
opportunity to develop Christian
charity among them and, by
helping their suffering fellow-
countrymen, to exercise a noble
patriotism.

2. In large ports, such as
Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin,
etc., w^e would earnestly request
that the Missionary Associations
appoint committees to make a
canvas of the business men, mis-
sionaries, etc., in behalf of this
fund. This is a labor of love on
the part of all of us and will fall
heaviest on those who make this
request.

3. Will those missionaries who
have had experience in famine
relief work give us the advant-
age of their experience and send
to the Corresponding Secretary
suggestions to be submitted to
the Committee and thus help
them to solve the many perplex-
ing problems that must arise in
work of this kind ? Suggestions
as to how far we should co-
operate with the officials, informa-
tion about various kinds of relief
works, such as road making or
d3'ke building, orphanages, etc.,
and anything else that ma}^ help
us will be greatly appreciated.

4. If there are any mission-
aries working in the famine dis-
trict in either of the provinces
with whom w^e have not been
able to communicate in forming
our Committee and who might
wish to co-operate with us in

this work, please communicate
with the Corresponding Secre-
tary, giving the name of 3'our
Mission, number of missionaries
in your station, and the famine
situation in your section. Please
make checks or money orders
payable to T. F. McCrea, Trea-
surer North Kiangsu-Anhui
Famine Relief Committee, Chin-
kiang.

We put our appeal before our
fellow-workers in the Name of
Him who said : " I was hungry,
and ye gave me meat, naked, and
ye clothed me ; I was sick, and
ye visited me."

In behalf of the Committee,

Yours fraternally,

T. F. McCrEA,

Corresponding!; Secretary and Trea-
surer, North Kiangsu-Anhui
Famine Relief Comviiitee.

Appeal.

Owing to unprecedented heavy
rains during the months of June,
July. August, and part of Sep-
tember, a large part of the
northern districts of Kiangsu
and Anhui provinces was flooded.
The flooded districts are estimat-
ed as covering an area of 40,000
square miles, supporting a po-
pulation of 15,000,000. None of
the crops have been gathered.
All the necessities of life have
already (November ist) doubled
in price. Thousands of houses
have been destroyed. Thousands
otf people are already living on
one meal a day, and often this
meal is composed only of gruel
and sweet potato leaves. Tens of
thousands have left their homes to
beg elsewhere. Some throw their
children into the water and then
commit suicide. Many are sell-
ing theircliildren for almost noth-
ing. The farmers are selling
their work animals to buy food

694

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

and have no wheat to plant for
next year's crop*

Unless relief be given, from
eight to ten millions of these
people will soon be face to face
with famine and great numbers
of them must perish. Hundreds
of them are dying already of
famine and fever. The provision
which the Chinese government
has made to meet these needs,
even were it honestly administer-
ed, is woefully inadequate, allow-
ing only twenty-five cents silver
for each individual in need. From
recent information in the vShang-
hai papers the officials are forcing
the famine sufferers, with gun-
boats and soldiers, to remain in
the flooded districts, while fail-
ing to provide them with the
food they must have or starve in
their desolate and foodless homes.
The N.-C. Daily News reports
that 10,000 families were com-
pelled to remain in Hsuchoufu
alone ; the officials promising to
feed them. That the help ren-
dered by the officials is inadequate
is shown by the serious disturb-
ances in that section ; the people
saying that they might as well
die by the sword as by starvation.

When it is remembered that
there is no hope of relief from
famine before the ripening of new
crops next June, it is feared that
the larger part of these millions
in the flooded country will be
affected by the famine and the
conditions will be indescribably
awful. The need is urgent and
acute suffering has already begun.

We appeal to the humane
sympathy of all Christian and
philanthropic people to help us
feed these suffering fellow-beings.

The North Kiangsu - Anhui
Famine Relief Committee : M. B.
Grier, Southern Presbyterian Mis-
sion, Hsuchoufu; G. P. Bostick,
Gospel Mission, Pochou ; J. B.
Woods, Southern Presbyterian

Mission, Tsingkiangpu ; L. W.
Pierce, Southern Baptist Mission,
Yangchow ; A. Sydenstricker,
Southern Presbyterian Mission,
Chinkiang; M. J. Walker, Scotch
Bible Society, Chinkiang ; B. C.
Patterson, Southern Presbyterian
Mission, Suchien ; Dr. S. Cochran,
Northern Presbyterian Mission,
Huaiyuen ; J. B. Trindle, North-
ern Methodist Mission, Yang-
chow ; W. C. lyongden, Northern
Methodist Mission, Chinkiang ;
J. E. Williams, China Inland
Mission, Chinkiang ; T. F. Mc-
Crea, Southern Baptist Mission,
Chinkiang, Cor. Sec. and Trea-
surer.

Letter from Rev. B. C. Patterson,

Southern Presbyterian Mission ,

Sue hie fi, Ku,

FLOOD AND FAMINE.

There is only one item — Want!
Famine ! It is on us with its savage
fights, its anaemia, its sickening lan-
gour, and its fevers. Perhaps there are
ten milHon souls in the area affected.
When the wheat was lost fears were
expressed over and over again till we
grew callous and thought that it was
probably not so bad after all, as
farmers complain after every harvest.

Then the July rains rotted the corn
(maize). The lands were plowed in
August, and hopes of an autumn crop
of corn, beans and potatoes, encourag-
ed the people. Two weeks later the
whole face of the country was again
flooded and much more than half of
the later crops were destroyed. Bven
at this time of writing the whole of
the lowlands have again become so
flooded that it will be very late before
the wheat can be sown if at all. This
has, of course, raised the price of
cereals to two or three times the
normal market rate.

A trip northwaVds from Chinkiang,
now, gives one an idea of the fearful
floods. All along the canal water is
in the houses and boats are anchored
at the door-posts.

The lakes which lie west of Paoying
and Kaoyiu, and cover quite 1,000
square miles, in normal seasons, are
now nearly ten feet higher than usual.
The yellow flood rippling and glint-
ing on the horizon tells a tale of the
woe left in its track.

1906.]

Our Book Table.

695

On seeing an old acquaintance, and
hearin<^ of the almost absolute failure
of his crops, I asked. " If that is true
now tell me honestly how you with
your twelve mouths to feed are living
at all " They had been living on elm
and sweet potato leaves, mixed with a
handful of grain and boiled. He
calculated that even such poor food
would only last till New Year, and
after that he did not know what
would happen. " We will probably
not all be able to see another harvest,''
he said.

Any relief that can be given will be
entirelv inadequate. If one should
give all his substance to feed the poor
it would hardly be felt beyond his
immediate neighbors. We hope to be
able to distribute relief funds to those
within our reach. But probably
money cannot be wisely given away
before late winter or early spring.
In the meantime all our poor acquaint-
ances are bringing all their furniture
and stuff and begging us to purchase
it that they may provide for the
present.

Letter from Rev. T B. Grafton,

Southern Presbyterian 3/tsston,

Hsuchoiifu, Kii.

As I have just come in from a
country trip Mr. Grier gives me your
letter to answer concerning famine
conditions.

I. Famine will be universal every-
where within reach of us. Counting
all crops it is estimated that there is
only about twenty per cent, of a normal
year's yield on hand. Out to the west
and south I found hardly as much as

a garden patch. Potatoes are only a
few strings and roots Much land is
still submerged (October 20th). The
greater part is still too mudsoaked to
plough. Prospects for planting wheat
are verj' gloomy,

2. By Chinese New Year (February
13th) there will be practically noth-
ing in the line of eatables left.
From then on for three or four months
there will be starvation for tens of
thousands. Grain c;in be had in
Shantung, and the officials have given
permission for its shipment out. Hut
the money to buy is lacking, as the
price is so high.

3. I don't know atiy thing to do
except to appeal for aid, and give out
as best we can all that is contributed.
For my prirt I would like to see all
famine funds expended on public
works, giving employment to thou-
sands of the needy, but you know
without my telling you what a task
we should have before us in that
event.

4. The Taotai told us last week
that there was a fund of Taels 600 000
to be divided between Huaian, Hai-
chou, and Ilsuchoufu. If this fu gets
a third we calculated to-day that each
person who is actually destitute would
receive 250 cash (about 12 cents Gold),
enough for only two or three days'
food. This is supposing that half the
people won't need help. The Taotai
has bought grain to sell during the
winter at cost price. But only a very
small portion of the people can be
helped in this way. Nothing can
prevent starvation on a large scale^
for I don't expect millions of dollars
to be given us for distribution.

Our Book Table.

*ti ff ?Jr U- A True Record. Publish-
ed at the Foochow Romanized Press.

This is a eulogy of one of the
earliest and most faithful Chris-
tians in Foochow, who died in
1903 at the age of seventy. Shen
Sheu-chen was an atithor, a
teacher and a preacher ; becom-
ing a Christian in his youth he
was persectited by his father and
mother, but continued steadfast
to the end. Testimonies to the
high moral worth of this noble

man are given in the little book
by many Chinese.

The rapid making of Chinese
t^htirch history is a significant
sign of the times, and this is the
kind of history needed at pre-
sent. The best evidence of
Christianity for the Chine.'^e is
Christianity exhibited in the life
and work of a Chinese.

The book may be obtained
from Rev. George W. Hinnian,
Foochow. ^^

696

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

The Review of the Far East. Edited
by A. Cunuingham, Hongkong.
No. I.

This is a new venture and is
the outcome, as the Editor in-
forms us in his Introduction,
"of a conviction held for some
time past that there is need in
the Orient of a serious publica-
tion which will put on record the
thoughts and impressions of pro-
minent men on many subjects
which are playing a prominent
part in the social, political and
economical development of East-
ern Asia." This first number
gives promise of an intertesting
future, and we wish the project
every success.

China. A Quarterly Record: Religi-
ous, Philanthropic, Political. Lon-
don : Oliphant, Anderson and Fer-
rier. Copies may be had at the
Presbyterian Mission Press. Price
60 cents a year postpaid.

The reissue of this quarterly
gives us real pleasure. The
appearance of the yellow cover
on our Book Table has no sugges-
tion of jaundice, but, if indica-
tive of any special state of mind,
it would be a bias to all that is
most helpful to China. It is very
cheering to workers in the field
to know that this represents the
thought and prayer and work of
devoted well-wishers of China in
the homeland, who are keenly
desirous of passing- on their
knowledge to others and so
awakening a like interest in the
great needs of a quarter of the
earth's population. We are re-
ferring to this publication in our
editorial columns. The contents
of the October number com-
prise : — The Educational Crisis
in China — Christian Missions and
China's Young Men — The Chris-
tian lyiterature Society for China
' — Revival News from Shantung
and Chihli — A striking Story

of Faith, by Mrs. Howard Taylor
— And news from all parts of
the Empire — What the Chinese
Think of Opium — A Daily Paper
for Chinese Women— The Aboli-
tion of Domestic Slavery, etc.

The Educational System of Japan.
By Alberlvis Pieters, A.M., Nagasa-
ki, Japan. For sale at the Presby-
terian Mission Press. Price 25 cts.

The strides which the Japanese
have made during the past twen-
ty-five years in the matter of
educ;)tion is a constant subject
of marvel and is well set forth
in this pamphlet of 89 pp. by
Principal Pieters. It would be
well if the work were to be
perused by those in charge of
educational work at home and
especially by the leaders of edu-
cational reform in China. For
instance, we learn that one sec-
tion of the Minister's Cabinet is
organized expressly to look after
school hygiene, regulating in de-
tail the sites of school houses,
number of square feet of floor
space and cubic feet of air re-
quired for each pupil, color of
walls, height, width and length
of seats, and the height of the
first and second cross-pieces in
the backs of seat, etc., etc. Also
school physicians, whose office
it is to look after the children's
eyes, teeth, clothing, general
health, etc., and to call the atten-
tion of the parents to their chil-
dren needing special care. And
our wonder is further increased
when we learn that these physi-
cians (of whom there are nearly
five thousand) received an aver-
age of but Yen 28.57 P^^ annum,
as compensation for their ser-
vices. It is also interesting to
note that of the 115,570 teachers
19,613, or fifteen per cent., are
women. This may seem small,
relatively, but it is not when the
erstwhile condition of women in

1906.]

Our Book Table.

697

Japan is considered. It is also
interesting to see that Japan has
a school in Tokyo for foreign
children. In view of present
complications on account of the
presence of Japanese children in
the public schools of San Fran-
cisco, it might be well to consi-
der what treatment the Japanese
are giving to the children of
Americans in the schools iu
Tokyo.

There is much else of interest
in what Mr. Pieters has written,
and he has taken no little pains to
collect a great deal of informa-
tion which he has arranged in a
satisfactory manner.

F.

The Calendar of the Gods in China.
Bv Rev. Timothy Richard. D.I).
Shanghai : Methodist Publishing
House. For sale at the Presbyterian
Mission Press. 50 cents.

The title given to this booklet
on the inside, the * Chinese Re-
ligious Calendar ' is more fitting
than that of its cover, for the
Calendar is concerned with many
items that have no connection
with gods, small or great.
Perhaps the sketch of compara-
tive religious ideas given in an
introduction by the author will
attract as much interest as the
Calendar itself. It is in the vein
of liberal thought which is so
peculiarly the attitude of Dr.
Richard, and if the true value of
reading is its power to provoke
thought, then this is a valuable
little work. Is it right to speak
of Brahm as a god in conjunc-
tion with Jupiter and Shangti ?
and can a distinction properly be
made as is attempted in the
synopsis between ' Ancient '
and ' Modern ' forces of nature ?
Surely the forces of nature know
no chronolo~gy. It is man's
conception of the forces of nature
th^t is the point aimed at. The
tendency of sinologues to ap-

proximate these English sent-ences
to the terseness of the Chinese
classical style leaves many
mental gaps. Dr. Richard is no
exception ; his language tends
to become epigrammatic without
being explicit.

In this pamphlet the proof read-
ing leaves much to be desired :
' news of morality ' for * view ; '
'game' of life for aim, and on
page 8 a sentence about Shin-
toism, which is quite meaning-
less, deserve attention.

The thanks of many mission-
aries are due to Dr. Richard for
the idea of this useful little work.
With it by them they will find
it easy to add to their knowledge
of the superstitions and folklore
of their own districts, and all
such knowledge makes for the
increase of power for Christian
service. It may be hoped that
later a more comprehensive study
of this nature will be prepared
and published on the basis of
Dr. Richard's work.

B.

SCRIPTURE CARTOONS.

Many of our readers will re-
member the picture of the rich
man and Lazarus which was
painted by Liu Meh-lin, litho-
graphed in Japan and had a
large sale all over China. Those
who bought the cartoon often
expressed a wish to have the
same picture in colors. The
great preliminary expense ot
lithographing a colored picture
of this size has hitherto made it
impossible to meet the desire so
often expressed. Now, however,
we are happy to say a Christian
publisher, M. Froese, of Basel,
Switzerland, has come to the
artist's assistance and has produc-
ed a beautiful scroll in colours
with the Scripture text in Man-

698

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

darin printed underneath. The
size of the picture is 30 by
20 inches. It is on good white
paper, the colours are excellent,
and the realistic scene — the rich
man, the beggar and the dogs
licking his sores — is so faithfully
reproduced that we are tempted
to say it is a speaking likeness.
Best of all the price is only
fifteen cents.

There is also a folded tract
with the story of the prodigal in
Wen-li and eight pictures by the
same artist also reproduced by
Froese & Co., Basel. The size
of those pictures is 10 by 7 inches.
The drawing and coloring are of
a much higher standard of ex-
cellence than we have hitherto
seen in such cartoons. Price
also fifteen cents. These pictures
will, we are sure, be very
popular with preachers in street
chapels and the native Chris-
tians. The Hankow Tract
Society will be pleased to receive
orders.

J. D.

" Beginning Cantonese." A Review.

How to learn Chinese is still
with many foreign residents in
China a burning question, and it
will be so for inany years to
come. New books which pro-
mise to be a guide for beginners
will therefore always be welcome,
provided they keep to what they
promise.

Such a new book is Dr. O. F.
Winner's " Beginning Cantonese "
(Ii ffi fu ^). which was brought
to my notice some time ago, and
to which I would direct the
attention of beginners in the
study of Cantonese, for the use
of which it is specially meant.

No one who knows Dr. Wisner
will doubt but that he is highly
competent to write such a book.
And it seems to the reviewer

that he has solved his task in a
very able and scholarly manner.
The book is not meant, as far as
I can gather, to supersede other
valuable books already in exist-
ence. It is simply an attempt to
furnish a help to the student in
the systematic learning of the
spoken language. The author's
effort, as he himself says, has
been to select words in the order
of their importance to the begin-
ner, both for immediate use and
for the purpose of constructive
study of the language. As this
is more than the average Chinese
teacher can be depended upon to
do for beginners, the book will
be found a useful guide for the
foreign student as well as to the
Chinese pundit.

The book is divided into 75
chapters, beginning with group-
ing together, first, -words that will
first be needed, and by degrees
advancing to conversation on
every day topics.

The introduction to the book
is a rich mine of information to
beginners, and deserves to be
carefully studied. It contains
some rules of how to use the
book, which should prove very
helpful to the pupil. Two
systems of working the tones are
given : the system adopted in
Dr. Eitel's dictionary and the
method adopted for romanization
in this book, which slightly
differs from Dr. Eitel's. As in
other books, teaching beginners,
a list of the principal classifiers is
given, also a list of endings and
their meanings.

Quite a new departure is the
''Directions to the Teacher,"
both in English and Chinese.
" Most of the men who aspire to
this position," so we read on p.
22, "are little more than living
depositories of information about
the language, from whom this
information must be extracted

1906.]

Our Book Table.

699

by the ingenuity of the pupil."
I quite agree with tlie author
that the average Chinese teacher
has not the slightest idea, far
less a scientific method, of how
to impart the knowledge sought
for by his impatient pupil, and
believe that there is a need for
such directions which has never
before been met by those who
have supplied beginners with
books on the language.

Following the reading lessons,
in which as far as possible words
have been grouped by subjects,
there is a romanized index given.
Two other indexes, both roman-
ized, are given at the end of the
book — the one indicating the
pronunciation of the words in
each vocubulary, the other an
alphabetical index with the
character attached for finding
any word in the lessons.

The list of Errata on p. 68 is
not quite complete, as it does not
cover all the misprints which
came to my notice. F. i. in p.
54b, 4th line, Cgf must be gj^,
and on the same page, 8th line,
fOg ought to be changed into \\[] .

The new method of reading
from the left to tlie right, adopt-
ed in this book, is so thoroughly
non-Chinese that I cannot ap-
prove of it. Though a small
section of Chinese, with their
heads full of reform ideas, may
prefer this to the old, time ho-
noured way of reading from the
right to the left, I do not think
that Chinese ever will accept
this innovation, by which noth-
ing is gained as far as I can see.

It would have enhanced the
value of the book very much if
the author had given an English
translation of each lesson as well
as the pronunciation of each
character on ^parallel pages. It
is all very well to expect the
teacher to "stand," and "sit,"
and "jump," and "talk," and

"look" to show the meaning
of these words (p. 23). But
where are the model teachers
w^ho will do so ? I would rather
expect an elephant to follow
these injunctions, but not an
ordinary Chinese gentleman, who
has been taught that to "gesticu-
late" (j^ ^ 4* JiO) is the surest
sign of a "mean man" (ij> A)-
Under these circumstances I do
not think it a wise procedure to
compel the pupil to do without
these crutches and simply expect
him to hang on the lips of the
teacher. And what if the teach-
er is not exactly what we should
call a good Cantonese speaker ?
If he cannot distinguish between
the 1 and n at the beginning and
the t and k at the end of w^ords?
Apart from these trifling objec-
tions this new book is highly to
be recommended to beginners.
It has been published by the
China Baptist Publication Socie-
ty in Canton (Shameen) at the
cost of two Dollars.

I. G.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

T/ios. N'lison and Sotis' Books.

Junior Suppletiientarv Readers. The
Wild Life of a Field. 6d.

Supplementary Readers, No. XVII.
Homer's Tale of Odysseus. H. E.
Haig Brown, M.A. 4d.

Geography Reader. The World and
Its people. Little Folks of Other
Lands. lod.

MacMillan and Company'' s Books.

f^rigonometry for Beginners, by Rev.
J. B Lock, M.A., Fellow and Bursar
of Gonvil and Caius College, Cam-
bridge, formerly INIaster at Eton,
and J. M. Child, B.A., Lecttirer
in Mathematics, Technical College,
Derby. Price 2/6.

New French Coiirse for Schools, based
on the principle of Direct Meihody
combining the practical use of the
living language with a systematic
study of grammar. By Charles

700

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

Copland Perry, New College, Ox-
ford ; Dr. Phil.- Marburg, Prussia,
etc., and Dr. Albrecht Reum, Ober-
lehrer am Vitzthumschen Gymna-
sium, Dresden. Part II. Includes
several songs set to music. Price
3/6.
Science Readers. By Vincent T.
IMurche, F.R.G.S., etc., etc. Book
VII. Price 1/9.

Object Lessons in Elementary Science,
based on the scheme issued by the
London School Board. By Vincent
T. Murche, F.R GS . etc., etc.
Stage VII. New and Revised :edi-
tion. Price 2/-.

The Rational Arithmetic, Teacher's
and Scholar's Books for Fourth,
Fifth and Sixth Year Courses. 8d.
and 3d. each.

Books in Preparation.

(Correspondence invited.)

The following books are in course
of preparation. Friends engaged in
translation or compilation of books
are invited to notify Rev. D.
MacGillivray, 44 Boone Road, Shang-
hai, of the work they are engaged
on, so thiit this column may be kept
up to date, and overlapping pre-
vented : -

C. L. S. List:—

Booker T. Washington's "Up from
Slavery." By Mr. Kao Lun-ching.

Guizot's Civilization in Europe.
W. A. Cornaby.

War Inconsistent with the Christian
Religion. Dodge.

Gordon's Talks on Service. D. Mac-
Gillivray.

Shansi Imperial University List: —

Twentieth Century Atlas of Popular
Astronomy. By Heath.

Physical Geography. Published by
Keith Johnston, Edinburgh.

History of Russia. Rambaud.

Biographical Dictionary, published
by Chambers.

Dr. H. A. Johnston's " Studies for
Personal Workers." By Mrs. A. H.
Mateer.

Topical Index to the Bible. By
G. A. Clayton (C. T. S.)

Heaven. By G. A. Clayton.

Acts and Epistles, S. S. Lessons,
Easy Mandarin. By W. F. Seymour.

Catechism of Synoptic Gospels.
By Mrs. H. C. DuBose.

Sharman's "Studies in the Life of
Christ." By Miss Sarah Peters.
Nearly ready for the Press.

Commentary on the Four Books,
By Dr. Henry Woods.

Ballantine's Inductive Studies in
Matthew.

"An Indian Princess," By Mrs.
Bertha S. Ohlinger.

Abridgment of Mateer's Arithmetic.
By Mrs. Mateer (in press).

Catechism on St. John's Gospel.
By Mrs DuBose.

Twenty normal lessons for S. S. use.
By J C. Owen.

The Organized Sundaj- School. By
J. C Owen.

Hungering and Thirsting. By
Mrs. MacGillivrav (ready).

Charity's Birthday Text. By Mrs.
MacGillivray (read}-').

A friend enquires for some transla-
tion of Sylvanus Stall's Books on
Self and Sex. Will some one work
at them ?

Rev. Geo. L. Gelwicks writes to say
that he is working on a Concordance
of the Old Testament in collaboration
with Rev. C. H. Fenn on the New
Testament.

NoTA Bene : Mr. MacGillivray's
Classified and Descriptive Catalogue
of Christian Literature (1901) being
all sold out, he purposes bringing it
up to date for the 1907 Centenary
Conference, including all distinctively
Christian books by all Societies. Sug-
gestions for improvement and ma-
terials gratefully received from recent
authors and from Societies ; more
especially as the new material has
been lost in the Whangpoo. He has
also in mind to publish a China
Mission Year Book, commencing with
1907, to be issued at the beginning
of 1908 ; this to be the first of a reg-
ularly appearing series of Year Books.
Suggestions as to what should be
included in these Year Books are now
solicited.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

701

Editorial Comment.

ZTbc IRcw ©pfum
IReflulattons.

The publication during the
past month of a series of regula-
tions, by means
of which the
Chinese gov-
ernment intends gradually to do
away with opium-smoking and
also the cultivation of the poppy
plant, has served to excite
unwonted interest everywhere,
without China as well as within.
In all cases of this sort the
first question which a Chinese
asks himself is, What does this
really mean ? It may as well
be taken for granted that the
answer to this on the part of a
majority of foreigners in China
is that this is a mere device on
the Chinese side to save their
face. Great efforts have been
made to stop the opium trade,
or failing that to restrict it.
At last the British government
has expressed its willingness to
do something definite, and it
behooves China to respond.
This she is now endeavoring
to do. There is a great stir
among the dry bones, much
virtuous excitement about the
waste of land which ought to
be given to the cultivation of
cereals, and the edict has gone
forth for the registration of
smokers, the limitation of their
allowance, the suppression of
the opium shops, and that of
the smoking paraphernalia,
and the like, all of which is of
the nature of Chinese Dust for
British Eyes. This, we venture
to say, is the opinion of ' ' the

Man-on-the-street,

who

is

supposed to be eminently prac-
tical, who *'has no brains
above his eyes," and who
"knows China like a book.'* •

We do not wish to detract
from the hard-earned reputation
^bc/Ranon ^^ ^^ " Man-on-
tbe Street, ^he-street,'' but
we should be glad
to call his attention to a few
important facts. Commis-
sioner Lin, who destroyed that
opium ^now some time back),
was supposed to be putting up
a *'game of bluff" on the
British. They were not to be
imposed upon. Having been
a long time in China, some of
them having long witnessed
and also promoted the evils of
the opium traffic, they knew
the stronghold which the vice
had on the Chinese. The
latter did not "mean busi-
ness," they went in for a
speculation, they were trying
to do something spectacular.
This we repeat was the British
theory, and on it they staked a
war. They were altogether
wrong. Lin was as able a
man as Captain Elliot, and
a great deal more straight-
forward in what he said and
did. The result was the war,
the results of which were in-
deed beneficial, but the origin
of which, seen in the light of
the twentieth century, is a blot
on the British name and flaof.
On that point there will soon be
no two opinions. It is not so

702

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

long ago that the students of
Foochow held " an anti-opium
meeting, and a grandson of
Commissioner Lin made an
address on the services of his
distinguished ancestor, and we
believe the body pledged them-
selves to carry out the spirit of
his acts.

demon in the wine cup to such
an extent that not one foreign-
er in an hundred now living
in China ever hears anything
about its ravages and its danger.
Will China banish the poppy
and put out her pipe ? We
think she will.

We are as well aware as

the most sceptical reader of

-V . i..,.4.i these lines that
probabumes. ^,^^^^ ^^^ ^^^j^^.

dictory forces in the present
rule of this Empire, and we
do not profess to know what
is going to happen, or indeed
why any particular thing does
happen rather than another.
But we wish to emphasize the
undoubted fact that there is a
new spu'it abroad in China,
making many things possible
which were impossible not only
an hundred years ago, but ten
years ago, five years ago, or
even one year ago. What
will be the temper of China
ten years hence none of us is
wise enough to predict, but
nothing is more certain than
that the Chinese can put down
the use of opium if they set
about it, and in our view it is
a very probable as it is an
eminently desirable result.
We do not minimize the enor-
mous difficulties, but no race
understands better how to sur-
mount these than the Chinese
when they have the wilL For
perhaps a millennium wine
was one of the great curses of
China, as we know from the
Classics and from history. But
the Chiuese conquered the

TRevlvals.

We have been much pleased
to note a number of accounts
of extended revivals
in various parts of the
China Mission field, some of
which remind one strongly of
the great revival in Wales. In
India, also, we observe that
there have been very marked
times of the work of the Holy
Spirit, and that thousands have
been touched thereby. These
revivals are marked by two
special characteristics — confes-
sion of sin and eagerness for
the salvation of others. Also,
like as in the Wales revival,
prayer and praise have ofteu
taken up the whole of the
service, many praying simul-
taneously, yet without confu-
sion, and quite crowding out
the preaching service.

All can but rejoice in these
manifestations of the Spirit^s
power and pray that the good
work may extend to every
part of the mission field.
Along with increased facilities
and opportunities in education-
al work, and the development
of mission work along all
lines, there should come to us,
with ever deepening intensity,
the need of the energizing,
fructifying w^ork of the Holy
Spirit and a resultant state of
never ceasing revival.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

703

In this connection it is in-
teresting to note what seems a

^ ^^ remarkable work

Bmono tbe

•fcwa /Hbiao.

which has been

going on in Yun-
nan among the Hwa Miao, as
described by Rev. S. Pollard
in "The Life of Faith. '» He
writes, ' ' The number of bap-
tized members now exceeds
twelve hundred." He also
mentions a convention which
they had held as an offset to
a great festival which the
people had been in the habit
of holding annually and which
was a time of great carousal,
drunkenness and immorality.
On the Sunday of the Con-
vention "over a hundred were
baptized, and a large number
again on Tuesday, when 2,500
people were present. '* Again,
"On Sunday, July ist, 230
were baptized at Rice Ear
Valley, where a third chapel to
seat 700 is being built. In
the next seven days about 200
more were baptized." He
also mentions the " missionary
spirit" among the Miao, and
of how they go and persistent-
ly preach in other villages.
A very good account of these
aborigines was given in the
September Recordkr of 1884,
by Rev. Geo. S. Clarke. One
can but rejoice that the Gospel
has thus taken hold among
them.

The Anti-foot-binding So-
ciety will, probably, soon be a
_^ ^, thing of the past,
^ ^ and we smcerely

hope it IS so, as we
trust its raison (V etre will soon

have ceased forever. Not that
we expect all the small feet
will be immediately released,
nor that no more will ever be
bound. But a movement has
set in that we believe will soon
carry all before it. It is one
of the things which the new
China will have nothing of.

We are led to these re-
marks from perusing the Re-
port of the Tien Tsu Hwui,
which appeared in the North-
China Daily News on the 12th
of November, — or in that num-
ber and " to be continued, ' ' for
the Report is a goodly one,
both in matter and manner.
If the pressure upon our
columns were not so great we
should like to reproduce the
Report in extenso, for it is
worthy of the widest circula-
tion, and we trust all our
friends have read it, or if not
that they will forthwith proceed
to get the paper, or a copy of
the Report and do so, for to
our mind it is the best they
have ever had.

* * ♦

In this connexion we should
like to mention the name of
Mrs. Archibald
Little, whohasdone
so much to make
the Society a success, and whose
labors have been so wide-
Spread and unremitting. Not
many ladies have the courage
or the opportunity that Mrs.
Little has had, and which she
has availed herself of to the
fullest. She is one who has
had the interests of the Chinese
at heart and has done a work
which no missionary or other
lady in all the land could have

Xlttlc.

704

The Chinese Recorder.

[Decembei,

accomplished. We understand
that she and her husband are
shortly leaving China, perhaps
for good. We are sure that the
best wishes of all lovers of, and
workers for, China will follow
her, and that many of the poor
liberated women who have been
brought out into a new life
of freedom through her labors,
will rise up and call her blessed.

♦ * *

We are pleased to see that
a strong Committee has been

formed at Chink iang
^^7/"/ to solicit funds for

the grievous famine
which is now raging in North
Kiangsu and Anhui, and
which will grow worse as the
winter proceeds. Some ten
million of people are said to
be in want, and the utmost
efforts that can be put forth
will bring but a modicum of
relief, but it is better this than
none at all. The Chinese
government is wholly inade-
quate to deal with such a
difficult problem, and even the
sums which are appropriated
are likely to be so largely
absorbed by those through
whose hands it passes that
very little reaches those for
whom it was intended. It is
a sad spectacle to contemplate,
and we trust that the Appeal of
the Committee as given else-
where in our columns will meet
with a hearty and generous
response, both here in China
and also in the home lands.

* * *

We would draw special at-
tention to the Conference Notes
prepared by Mr. Bond field, the

Conference
IRotes.

Honorary Secretary of the Exe-
cutive Committee. (See page
679). Mr. Bond-
field and his co-
workers deserve the
hearty thanks of the whole mis-
sionary body for their strenuous
labors and wise anticipatory
arrangements for the coming
event. We trust the details
given in these notes will be
carefully read. Several points
might be emphasized :

ist. Whilst the arrangements
are in a forward state, the
success of the Conference de-
pends on the hearty and en-
thusiastic co-operation of the
delegates and others coming to
it. There should be careful
study of the subjects on the
programme, so that the discus-
sion may be profitable.

2nd. Since the Conference
is one of delegates. Missions
are expected to notify the Com-
mittee if the delegates they
have nominated are unable to
attend, and to give the names
of substitutes. The Committee
can only follow its list, and if
corrections are not sent in, there
are sure to be confusion and
disappointment.

3rd. To provide accommoda-
tion for all who are coming
to the Conference will tax the
resources of the Committee, so
all who intend to be present
should send notice to the
Committee forthwith. Circu-
lars referring to arrangements
for accommodation are being
gent to all delegates and ex
officio members of the Confer-
ence on the Committee's list.
A prompt reply to this circular
is requested.

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

705

We trust that, whilst the res-
ponsibilities of the Chairmen
of Committees are

/C>emorie0.

great, they will
have ample help
from their colleagues. And
that these Committees will also
be helped by sympathetic co-
workers in the procuring of
well-digested facts and the pre-
paration of recommendations
and resolutions. We under-
stand that no papers are t6 be
read ; the subject being intro-
duced by a brief speech from
the chairman ot Committee.
We would also emphasize the
paragraph calling for volunteers
from the band of missionary
stenographers and typewriters.
Those who were present at the
last Conference will remember
the splendid work done by Mr.
W. J. Lewis ; how, day after
day, he sat through all the
meetings, silent and busy, tak-
ing shorthand notes. Only a
few realize the enormous work
he had in transcribing these
notes after the company had
dispersed. The need for help
along various lines is the more
crying as we remember how
many of the workers at the
last Conference have gone to
their reward. In looking over
the list of members, we notice
the names of over half a hun-
dred who have "fallen asleep,*'
many of whom received a mar-
tyr's crown. And more than
forty have retired from the
mission field for various rea-
sons. All who were present
at the closing devotional meet-
ing of the last Conference
(presided over by Dr. Blodget)
will call to mind the touching

praiscr for tbe
Contcrence.

farewell words from white-hair-
ed missionaries, who spoke
about the possible partings be-
fore the next great gathering ;
and how fittingly the meeting
closed with the singing of the
hymn, "God be with you

till we meet again."

* * *

We would emphasize the
closing sentence of Mr. Bond-
field's notes, and
as we ask our-
selves what in-
spiration will come from the
Conference, and what direction
will be given to the work, we
feel the need for constant
prayer. In one centre a series
of weekly prayer meetings is
being held, in which the work
of the different Committees is
prayed for in turn. We were
present at the prayer meeting,
at which the sub-committee
on the Study and Use of the
Bible was specially remember-
ed. The order of the meeting
may be of suggestive interest.
We give the divisions and sub-
divisions below : —

T/ie Bible in the Simday School.
Pray :— (i). That the Bible may have
a larger place in the youug
life of the church.

(2). That plans may be adopted
which will work for economy
in preparation of literature.

(3). That the Chinese workers may
be trained to appreciate and
use the opportunity present-
• ed by the Sunday School.

The Bible in the Home.

Pray: — (i). That family worship may

be maintained.
(2). That means for helping parents

may be devised.
(3). That pastors may be faithful in

example and precept.
(4). That Mr may be able to

weigh aright the replies he

gets from the Chinese.

706

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

The Bible Among Women.

Praj' : — ,'i). That women receiving
instruction may be faithful
in living out what they learn.
(2). That best methods may be used
for stimulating Bible study
among women.
(3). That something practical may
be planned at the Conference
for stimulating this.

The Bible and the Christian Worker.

Pray: — (i). That they may be men
thoroughly furnished,

(2). That they may know the joy of
feeding on the Word.

(3). That plans to stiniulate their
Bible study may be devised.

The Bible in Schools and Colleges.

Pray: — (i). That the young may form
the habit of daily devotional
Bible study.

(2). That independent study may be
encouraged,

(3). That proper helps may be pre-
pared.

For those who wish to follow
this suggestion, and who have
mislaid their Conference pro-
grammes, the full programme
may be found in the June Re-
corder.

As is customarjr we have
printed the programme for the
Annual Universal

Weeft of
prater.

Week of Prayer,
originated by the
Evangelical Alliance. Instead,
however, of binding it in with
the Recorder we have insert-
ed it loosely, so that it can be
used at the meetings. Further
copies may be had from the
Mission Press Book-room. For
sixty years the Alliance has
promoted this world-wide an-
nual week of concert in prayer,
which has formed a link of
hallowed fellowship among
Christians of all churches and
in all lands. In these days,

when hindrances to faith so
abound, when social conditions
are so complex, and new condi-
tions in heathen lands raise
difficult questions, there is more
need than ever for prayer. It
is suggested that for the ser-
mons on the Sundays indicated
in the programme, the preach-
ers take as topics the texts
indicated, and that special
mention be made of the Week
of Prayer. We understand that
the programme is being trans-
lated into Chinese.

In our Book Table columns
we have expressed our pleasure

ablna. atthere-appearance
of the quarterly —
China, Whilst of interest
and help to readers in the East,
it is of special use in the home
lands, for bringing to the at-
tention of busy legislators and
merchants the broader though
not less intense aspects of all
questions connected with the
evangelization of China, un-
encumbered by financial reports
and details of subscriptions,
as well as with little of the
local colouring which is ne-
cessarily found in denomina-
tional magazines. China., in a
minimum of space, gives a
maximum of food for thought.
In the number before us, we
find two specially suggestive
articles from the pens of Rev.
J. P. Bruce and Rev. W. N.
Bitton. The former in speak-
ing of the educational crisis in
China, gives a good idea of the
gigantic task China has set
before herself and of the unique
opportunity God has set before

1906.]

Editorial Comment.

707

us. Taking the evangelist's
point of view, he emphasized
the training of Christian men
both as preachers of the Gos-
pel to high and low, and as
witnesses for Him in every
calling of life. In looking from
the standpoint of the native
church, Mr. Bruce anticipates
the ultimate independence of
the Chinese church and speaks
of steadying forces in the
church in China which perhaps
do not exist in Japan. " The
national characteristic of the
Chinese is reverence for their
teachers, which, even in the
day of independence, will make
the church slow to cast off its
association with the mission-
aries." Mr. Bitton empha-
sizes the fact that Christianity
as the supreme character-form-
ing force in the world, becomes
of vital interest in the welfare
of China and to the peace and
serenity of the civilized world.

In the articles referred to,
Mr. Bruce speaks of the "pente-

0000 "Mews

costal experiences"
in China, and Mr.
Bitton refers to the
thousands of young Chinese in
Tokyo. It is appropriate,
therefore, to quote from a
letter dated November 7th
from Rev. J. E. Williams, of
the American Presbyterian
Mission in China, who went to
help in the Y. M. C. A. work
in Japan. He says : —

•* We had a splendid meeting Sun-
day night, with Dr. Johnston speak-
ing through Mr. Wang. He put his
whole soul into it and Dr. Johnston
gave them ^over two hundred of
them) a fine talk. He called for the

men who would like to live a clean
life, to help their country, who would
like to follow Christ, to stand up.
Over a hundred of the men stood up,
and remained standing during his
prayer for them. They knew what
they were doing, and meant it. I was
amazed, beyond measure, at the spirit
of the men. Prayers are being an-
swered and it .is marvellous in our
eyes. The men are very accessible
and friendly."

Our references to Dr. Gil-
bert Reid's work have been
Q:bc ITntcrnatlonal comparative-
irnstitute. ly few, but

during this past month the
appearance of his Report, his
second annual meeting, and
the unveiling of the tablet of
the Low Memorial Hall, all
seem to indicate an opportunity
for referring to this unique
effort for bridging the gulf
between foreigners and Chinese.
Some encouraging features are
Dr. Reid's finding an associate
in the Rev. F. Perry (late of
the Church of England Mis-
sion, Wei-hai-wei) ; the special
interest taken by the chairman

• of the Executive Committee,
who has been a liberal donor,
and who hopes, when in Eng-
land, to exert himself on be-
half of the Institute ; the loyal
support of the business men of
Shanghai, foreigners as well
as Chinese ; the growth of the
educational classes ; the gene-

•rosity of William C. Low, who
had at different times given
upwards of Tls. 1,000, and
then Tls. 7,000 for a Hall in
memory of his father, one of
the early American merchants
to China ; and in the honour
paid by Viceroy Chu Fu in
unveiling the tablet.

708

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

The Christian Literature So-
ciety is prepared to supply for
free distribution

parcels of back

ifrec Gift of

numbers of the
CJmrch Review^ Review of
the Tinies^ and the Chinese
Weekly. These periodicals
contain much matter of per-
manent value, which would be
found useful in leading readers
to a fuller apprehension of the

value of truth and progress.
All expense of postage, freight,
and packing cases to be borne
by consignee. When order-
ing please send postage stamps
for three dollars to cover ex-
penses ; any balance will be
returned to you. Write to
Rev. J. E. Cardwell, Christian
Literature Society^ 44 Boone
Road, Shanghai.

Missionary News.

Some Presbyterian Statistics.

The statistics of the Central
China Mission of the Presby-
terian Church in the U. S. A.,
including the stations of Ningpo,
Shanghai, Haugchow and Soo-
chow, show a net increase of
ninety-six members during the
past year. The total number of
communicants is 2,188. There
are seventeen churches and nine-
teen native ministers, and the
native contributions amounted to
$4»594- ^^ ^^ boarding-schools
for boys 290 were enrolled, and
in the boarding-schools for girls
157. In the day-schools 374 boys
and 118 girls were enrolled, and
in training classes twenty-seven
men and fifty-eight women,
making a total of 1,024 in all
the schools.

A Unique Opportunity.

The Christian lyiterature So-
ciety is prepared to help mission-
aries to meet the present opportu-
nities of influencing the scholars
and literary classes of China by
supplying parcels of books at
half and in some cases less than
half the published prices. The

parcels contain a selection of
religious, scientific, and books
dealing with general topics. For
larger parcels, send a P. O. or
ten-cent stamps for $6, and %\
for smaller parcels.

N. B.— Send direct to Rev. J.
E. Cardwell, C. L. S., 44 Boone
Road, Shanghai, and in register-
ed covers.

Students* Conference

At San-wan-fan in the Kuwng

foot-hii,ls,

July nth to 22nd.

A correspondent kindly writes us as
follows : You have no doubt had
detailed reports from other sources.
What I wanted to say concerned
simply the representation and signifi-
cance of the Conference. It represent-
ed, I believe, the strongest elements
in the young Chinese church in Cen-
tral China. The Christian schools and
colleges of Nanking, Kiukiang, and
Hankow and Wuchang were repre-
sented by their best teachers and
students, while delegates were also
present from Yangchow, Anking,
Chinkiang and Changsha ; and there
were some delegates also from govern-
ment schools. Altogether forty dele-
gates were present, and a finer body
of Chinese 5'oung men it would be
hard to find anywhere. The signifi-
cant thing about it all lies in the fact

1906.]

Missionary News.

709

that such a representative body of
Christians could be brought together
at all. It means that at last we have
an orijjanization which is ready and
able to command the confidence of
all the Protestant missions, and that
henceforth we may look with assur-
ance to the regular holding of such
conferences, impossible, so far as I can
see, except throu<^h the agency of the
Young Men's Christian Association.
No such conference has been held
heretofore, but if we may judge from
the feeling expressed at this confer-
ence, this Student Summer Conference
will become an annual institution.

Having secured such a represent-
ative conference of students, the re-
sults anticipated were far surpassed
by the actual achievements. The good
fellowship was contagious, spring-
ing up the instant delegates met
in the bungalow, and ripening into
friendships which will last for a life-
time. vSympathies were widened,
petty jealousiesand misunderstandings
•were removed, and more than one
delegate who came, thinking that his
difficulties were peculiar, found fellow-
students of his own age, but of whom
he had never heard, struggling with
the very same problems, from the
same motives, and went away with a
new sense of comradeship in the Chris-
tian warfare. Above all, perhaps,
habits of Bible study and prayer were
begun which will henceforth link
together these heretofore somewhat
isolated students, and which may be
expected to yield the same good
fruits as they yield in Christian lands.

I have been much impressed with
the unanimity of approval expressed
in various ways since the conference
by those foreigners who in various
capacities are in positions to know
about the effects of the conference on
the delegates.

The Y. M. C. A. Conference
of Fukien Province.

The Y. M. C. A. student conference
was held in Foochow in the buildings
of the Anglo-Chinese College, Sept.
l-io. Different parts of the province
were represented. There were three
delegates from Hing-hua, nine others
being kept away by the typhoon.
Shao-wu was represented by three
delegates, long-bing b}' one delegate.
Foochow and vicinity were well repre-
sented, one student coming from a
government school. In all there were

about forty earnest young men in
attendance.

The day was begun by the morning
watch and prayers. The first hour
each morning was given to Bible
study. There were two classes : one
studying the book of Malachi, led by
INIr. Uong Siong-dek. and one studying
the Sermon on the Mount. The next
hour was given to conference on per-
sonal work, led by Mr. Beard. This
comprised the study of motives for
doing personal work, namely, the love
for the lost condition of an immortal
soul created in God's image. Then
the hindrances were taken up, and in
this portion the delegates searched
the Bible and learned about the hind-
rances of Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, Jonah,
Jeremiah. The preparation for doing
personal work was then discussed.
Each delegate was asked to bring in
three of Christ's methods of doing
work for individuals. Christ's sym-
pathy with men and love for them,
His knowledge and tact and direct-
ness, and numerous other points were
brought out by these personal work
studies. This conference should result
in more personal work on the part of
the students.

The addresses on choosing a life
work were strong and helpful. On
Sunday Rev. H. W. Oldham, of Chang-
poo, delivered an address on the
principles on which to choose a life
work. These are, that character is
more important than what a person
possesses, what one is as of greater
value than what one has, the denial of
self and the service of others.

Dr. Ling, of the Community Hospital,
spoke on the physician's work as a
life work. He emphasized the great
difficulty of this calling, because the
human body is such a wonderful
mechanism, because the physician
must aw^aken the faith of the patient.
Not only should the physician heal
the body, but he should also minister
to the health of the soul. He pointed
out that the physician should not only
heal the sick, but he should prevent
people from becoming sick. In the
iiddress on the pastor's calling the
speaker laid stress on the character
and the thoroughness of mental pre-
paration.

The platform addresses dealt with
various phases of Christian life and
activity. The address on evangelism
and on loving enemies and the one on
the text ''Ye are the light of the
world," were especially helpful.

In the afternoon were the delegates'
meetings and a conference on Y. M.
C. A. organization and method, sled

710

The Chinese Recorder.

[December,

by Mr. McLachlin and ]\Ir. Cio Lik-
daik.

This conference will undoubtedly
be followed by more intelligent per-
sonal work among the students The
Bible will be studied more faithfully
and intelligently and the prayer-life
will be deepened and broadened. The
members of the conference realized
their duties toward their fellow stu-
dents in the government schools and
discussed methods of coming into
communication with these students
and helping them The students also
realized the common bond which
unites them together in the work for
the one common Master.

IvEWIS HODOUS.

The New Church Building
at Kuling.

Wednesday, August the twenty-
fourth, a large company of residents
and visitors assembled on the Central
Park to witness the cutting of the first
sod, in preparation for the new church
building. The scene was one to
be long remembered, and the brief
service of praise and prayer in
the open air was very impressive.
The Rev. Joseph S. Adams conducted
the service. The Hymn " Oh God,
our help in ages past," was sung, and
Rev. Henry Woods, D.D., offered pray-
er. Suitable Scriptures were read by
Rev. T. R. Kearney, Church of Scot-
land Mission, Ichang. "The Church's
one Foundation " was then sung ; the
grand old hymn echoing through the
hills in a most heart-stirring way.

The chairman expressed the regret
of many at the absence of Rev. Arnold
Foster, Treasurer of the Building
Fund ; of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Roots,
Rev. James Jackson, and others who
had been active in the interests of the
new church, but whose duties in the
valley had called them away. He then
introduced Mr. B. S. Little, of Shang-
hai, saying that in giving Mr. Little
a hearty welcome that morning, his
self-denying services in the develop-
ment of the Estate were not forgotten,
and it was very fitting that he should
have the first place in addressing the
residents on the joyful occasion.

Mr. W. H. Poate, of Shanghai, cut
the first sod, after w\iich Mr. Brock-
man, of the International Y. M. C. A.,
offered the closing prayer, thanking
God for the unity of heart and the
cordial spirit of brotherliness which
had brought the large company to-

gether from many .ands to rear a house
to the glory of the Name, and prayed
that the time may come when the
whole Church of Christ may be united
to win the world to the feet of Jesus.
The proceedings terminated with the
Benediction by the Rev. G. A. Clay-
ton, of the Wesleyan Mission at Wu-
sueli.

The new Kuling Church is to be
cruciform in shape, to be built of cut
stone, faced, and with arched win-
dows. The seating capacity will be
six hundred and fifty, with arrange-
ments for galleries (in case of need
later on), which will bring the seats
up to a thousand. The cost will be
about thirteen thousand dollars, with-
out fittings. Of this sum $ii,ooo have
been subscribed. The Hon. Treasurer
is the Rev Arnold Foster, B.A., of
Wuchang. The Manager of the Ku-
ling Estate, John Berkin, Esq., will
also receive gifts for the Church
Building Fund.

Tidings from Japan.

Some time ago I attended a
conference of the representatives
of the Y. M. C. A., who have
come to Japan as teachers of
English in the government
schools. It v^^as held at a little
village on the sea coast on the
borders of the famine district.

At the terminus of the rail-
road v^e were met and w-elcomed
b}^ the ma^^or of the town and
escorted to the boat, on which we
took passage for the continuance
of our journey. As we came
near to our destination we were
met by the village officials and
accompanied to the place of
meeting. There we were met
and welcomed by the governor
of the province. Over the street,
at the entrance of the village,
was hung an inscription in large
letters " Welcome," and the
residents, especially the children,
in hohday attire, stood on either
side of the road to greet us as
we passed.

Such an unusual and evident-
ly sincere expression of good

1906]

Missionary Journal.

711

will interested us deeply, and we
were at a loss to understand it.
We learned subsequently that
it was the result of the contribu-
tions that had been made in the
U. S. and elsewhere for the relief
of the famine sufferers. The
whole region had been impressed
with a deep sense of gratitude
for the sympathy of the strangers
in a far off land for them in
their distress, and as opportunity
offers their gratitude is made
manifest.

In a letter from Miss E. J.
Hewett, of Sendai, she writes :
" We are having interesting
times going out to some of the
nearer villages where the people
suffered from the famine last
winter. This week we went to
Hirose-mura and were most
kindly received, both at the
village office and at the school,
where we had a Gospel meeting
for the children ; several older
people also attending.

"One interesting experience
was meeting one of the soldiers
we came to know while visiting
the military hospital, and who
has, since leaving the hospital,
married and settled in his home

village, where he is practicing
medicine. While in the hospital
he became a Christian and was
baptized, and since has had a
Sunday School in this little
village. We have, since our
visit, received a letter from the
headman of the village thanking
us for our visit and our little
gift to aid the people."

Rev. Mr. Axling, of Morioka,
reports that in one of the villages
in that district almost no results
were seen as the result of work
for nearly ten years. At last the
most notorious drunkard and
brawler in town, and his equally
disreputable wife, were convert-
ed, and the change that has
taken place ni that home has
been so great that now there is
a general desire to enjoy the
same blessing that has come into
the other lives. It has become
a serious question to decide who
are worthy to receive baptism,
as so many are eagerly seeking
to connect themselves with the
followers of Christ.

H. LooMis,
Age?U A. B. S.
Yokohama.

Missionary Journal.

BIRTHS.

At Teh-iang-hsien, 20th October, to
Rev. and Mrs. E. A. J. Thomas,
C. M. S., a son (Bernard Arthur).

At Wen-teng-hsien, 22nd October, to
Mr and INlrs. Harry Price, a sou
(Kenneth Harry).

At I-chow-fu, 25th October, to Rev.
and Mrs. P. P. Faris, A. P. M.,
a daughter (Eunice Thomson).

At Shanghai, 19th November, to Rev.
and Mrs. R. A. Parker, M. E. M.
So., a sou.

MARRIAGES.

At Paoning, i8th October, Mr. A.
Prehdy and Miss M. L, S. Har-
, man, C. I. M.

At Chungking, 23rd October, Mr. H.
H. Curtis and Miss E. A. Glan-
VII,LE, C. I. M,

AT Shanghai, 30th October, Mr. \V.
A. McRoBEKTs and Miss M. E.
Funk, C I. M.

At Shanghai, i6th November, Mr.
RoscoE M. Hersey, Y. M. C. a.,
and Miss Grace N. Baird.

r^

712

The Chinese Recorder

[December, 1906

DEATH.

At Lian^shau, »Szechuan, 25th Octo-
ber, Miss E. J Douglas-Hamiv
TON, C. I. jM., of typhus fever,

A!?RIVALS.

AT Shanghai : —

13th October, Rev. ]S. Brun, Nor.
r.Iis. Soc.

i8th October, I\Iiss Harstad, Lutli.
Brethren Mis,

28th October, Rev. and Mrs. Olsen
(ret.). Rev. Hagelkjar, Miss Bos-
TROM, Miss Garmsen, iMiss Jensen,
all of Dan, Luth Mis.; Miss H. LiND-
BLOM, Swedish Mongol Mission; Rev.
F. H. Chalfant, a. p. M. (ret.) ; Mr.
and Mrs. D. J. Harding and three
children (ret.), Mrs. James Lawson
and child (ret.), Miss A. Tranter
(ret.), Misses E. ArvyiRKW, B. Ar-
nold, J. Brook, N BurbrIdge, A.
Evans, L. Guest, L. Moody, L.
Mower, G. Fearse, G. Rugg, L.
Schmidt, O Haaf, dll for C. I M. ;
Miss Kate Fradd, C. and M. A.
(ret.)

30th October, Rev. P. HiNKEY(fet.),
Miss M. QuiNN(ret.). Rev. H. Van-
DYCK, all for C. and M A.

1st November, Rev. and Mfs. J. H.
Deming, a. B. M. U.

7tli November, Rev. and Mrs. I. B.
CIvARK, Rev. andMrs J. P.DAViES,Miss
A. Cor lies, M.D.,MissRAWLiNS,Rev.
and Mrs. Bakeman, all for A. B. M.
U ; Mrs.MoLLAND and two children,
for Chr. Mis. ; Rev. and Mrs. J. Lem-
LEY, Mrs D. H Davis, S. D. B. M.;
Mi.ss M. Mathews, A. P. M., So. (ret );
Miss K. A Winch ER, Dr W. W,
Williams, M. E M. (ret); Messrs. A.
A. Karlsson, J A. LiFBOM, A. G.
WOERN, all for C. I M.

9th November, Rev. G. F. Viking
and family, G. C G. 2.

nth November, Rev and Mrs J. O.
CtJRNOW, M. E M (ret); Mr. and
Mrs. W. R Malcolm (ret,), Mr. and
Mrs. A. Trudinger (ret.), Misses S.
M. LiDDY, F. M Macdonald, all for
C. I. M.

1 2th November, Rev. and Mrs A.
Thomson, Rev and Mrs G. Eadie,
Dr. and Miss Mary Thom.son, Miss
Edith McGill, Mrs, W . J. Scott,
Dr. S O. McMuRTRY, Dr. John A.
MacDonald, Miss Winifred Ben-
net, uU for Gan.' I'res. Mis ; Miss
Knox, W. F. M, S. M E Ghurch,

15th November. Miss I, Nielsen,
Hanges vSvnod Mission ; Miss I. Nys-
TUL, Sw.Xuth. Mis ; Mr. D. W. Ed-
wards, Miss Grace M. Baird, Y.
M. G. A.; Mr. George A, Gregg, Y.
M. G. a., Korea; Mrs. J Lawrence
Thurston, Yale Mis. (ret.); Mr. and
Mrs G. A. Burch, F G. M., Dr, and
Mrs Ayers, S. B G.; Miss Nellie
E. Dow, Am. Ad. Gh. Mis. ret.); Miss
Perkins, Mr. Bartel, Mr. and Mrs.
Schmidt Mr. Keen, Miss Schmidt,
Miss DYCK.Miss Meyer, Miss Neifsy-
KER, Mr, and Mrs, E. J. Elandford.

i6th November, Dr. A. Z, Hall,

A. B. M. U.; Rev.' E Williams, M,
E. M.; Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Hoste and
two children (ret.), Miss M. Gray,
all G. I. M.

20th November, Misses WELLS,
Walmesley, Mellodey, Hudson,
and Hamilton, all for G. M, S. (ret,).

24th November, Dr, and Mfs, C.
Macken^iiS, a. B. M. U.; Miss G. B.
tEWts, A. P. M. (ret.); RfeV. D.
Ghapin, a. p. M.; Mr. E. Andrews,
C. I. M.; Rev. and Mrs. E. Thomp-
son, G. M. S. (ret.); Miss M.Onyon,
G. M. S ; Rev, and Mirs, S. B* DrakE,

B. M. S.

DEPARTURES.

From SUanghai : —

22nd October, Rev. and Mrs. O.
R. Wold and family HaUges Miss, j
for Europe.

2nd November, Mr. and Mts. Par-
ker and family, G I. M., for England;
Rev. and Mrs. G. H. Waters and
family, A. B M, U., for U. S. A.; Rev.
and Mrs, W, A. Gornaby and family,
W. M. S., for England.

3rd November, Rev, and Mrs. H.
Sjoelom, Fin, Miss., for Europe.

1 2th November, Miss E. M, Jen-
kins, Friends' Mis., for U. S. A. via
Ehrope.

2ist November, Mr. Chr. WaT-
SAAS, C. I. M. , for Sweden.

24th November, Miss K. L. Ogborf^,
M. E. M.; Rev. G. F. Bambach, both
for U, S. A.

26th November. Mr. and Mrs. J.
B. Martin and family, Mr. W. T.
Herbert, Misses F.M. Williams, H,
Davies, for England ; Mr and Mrs.
J. S. Fiddler and family, for Austra-
lia, all of G. I. M.

■!hh%

\ BV
I 34L0

C6

V.37

&

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